slviii INTRODUCTION. 



JVeJl of Churchill River. On the 13th of July (having left 

 Conge catha ivha Chaga on the 2d, and travelling dill to the 

 Weft of North) he reached the Copper-mine River ; and was 

 not a little furprized to find it differ fo much from the de- 

 fcriptions given of it by the natives at the fort ; for, inftead 

 of being likely to be navigable for a fliip, it is, at this part, 

 fcarcely navigable for an Indian canoe ; three falls being in 

 fight, at one view, and being choaked up with Ihoals and 

 flony ridges. 



Here Mr. Hearne began his furvey of the river. This he 

 continued till he arrived at its mouth, near which his 

 Northern Indians maflacred twenty-one Efquimaux, whom 

 they furprized in their tents. We fliall give Mr. Hearne's 

 account of his arrival at the fea, in his ov^n words. " After 

 *' the Indians had plundered the tents of the Efquimaux of 

 *' all the copper, &c. they were then again ready to affift 

 " me in making an end to the furvey; the fea then in fighc 

 *' from the North Weft by Weft to the North Eaft, diftant 

 *' about eight miles. It was then about five in the morning of 

 " the 17th, when I again proceeded to furvey the river to 

 " the mouth, ftill found, in every refped, no ways likely, 

 " or a poffibility of being made navigable, being full of 

 " ihoals and falls ; and, at the entrance, the river emptying 

 '•' itfelf over a dry flat of the fhore. For the tide was then 

 '' out, and feemed, by the edges of the ice, to flow about 

 " twelve or fourteen feet, which will only reach a little 

 " within the river's mouth. That being the cafe, the wa- 

 •* ter in the river had not the leaft brackifli taftc. But I am 

 *' fure of its being the fea, or fome part thereof, by the 

 " quantity of whale-bone and feal fkins the Efquimaux had 

 " at their tents ; as alfo the number of feals which I faw 

 ** upon the ice. The fea, at the river's mouth, was full 

 3 '.' of 



