OF THE POLAR SEA. 5 
Company. at this place, undertook to communi- 
cate my wish for volunteer boatmen to the dif- 
ferent parishes, by a notice on the church-door, 
which he said was the surest and most direct 
channel for the conveyance of information to the 
lower classes in these islands, as they invariably 
attend divine service there every Sunday. He 
informed me that the kind of men we were in 
want of would be difficult to procure, on account 
of the very increased demand for boatmen for the 
herring fishery, which had recently been esta- 
blished on the shores of these islands; that last 
year, sixty boats and four hundred men only were 
employed in this service, whereas now there were 
three hundred boats and twelve hundred men 
engaged ; and that owing to this unexpected 
addition to the fishery, he had been unable to 
provide the number of persons required for the 
service of the Hudson’s Bay Company. . This 
was unpleasant information, as it increased the 
apprehension of our being detained at York Fac- 
tory the whole winter, if boatmen were not taken 
from hence. I could not therefore hesitate in re- 
questing Mr, Geddes to engage eight or ten men 
well adapted for our service, on such terms as he 
could procure them, though the Secretary of 
State’s permission had not yet reached me. 
Next to a supply of boatmen, our attention 
