JOURNEYS IN RUPERTS LAND. 97 
tions with the several tribes, and “to smoke your calumet of peace with their 
leaders, in order to establish a friendship with them.” He was to seek the Copper- 
mine River. ‘If,’ say the instructions, “the said river be likely to be of any 
utility, take possession of it on behalf of the Hudson’s Bay Company,” by cutting 
your name on some of the rocks, and also the date of the year, month, etc. 
Nov. 6.—Hearne set out from the mouth of Churchill River, with a salute of seven 
guns from Prince of Wales Fort, and, Dec. 11, after continual desertions of his 
men, and dastardly conduct on the part of his guides, arrived at the fort, having 
gone inland some two hundred miles. 

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. 23, Hearne began a second voyage. On this expedition he reached a point 
five hundred miles inland, but his chief astronomical instrument was broken by 
an accident, and he returned to the coast in November. 
On Dec. 7 of this year, the third voyage was undertaken, but this time with no 
firing of cannon. Making slow progress in winter, a rendezvous was reached 
by the explorer and several hundred Indians, and a dash made across the barren 
lands, and the Coppermine River reached. 
1771.—July 18—At this date, Hearne reached the mouth of the Coppermine, and looked 
out upon the Arctic Ocean—its discoverer. His scientific knowledge was so 
defective that he fixed the mouth of the Coppermine at 71° N. instead of 67° 48’. 
1774. Saskatchewan. 

(4) SIR ALEXANDER MACKENZIE. 
Mackenzie was a young Scotchman, who came to Canada as a boy, entered the fur 
trade, and became a trader among the Nor’-Westers. At this date he was in pursuit of 
furs at Fort Chippewyan, on Lake Athabasca. His Company being rivals of the Hudson’s 
Bay Company, he was stimulated by Hearne’s discovery. 
1789.—June.—He started with four canoes, manned by French Canadians and Indians. 
At the end of July, after stirring adventures with strange Indians, and annoy- 
ances from his own party, Mackenzie reached the Arctic Sea by way of the river 
bearing his name. 
1791.—Mackenzie spent this year in Great Britain, having found, on his first voyage, the 
necessity for greater mathematical knowledge. 
1792.—Oct.—Mackenzie left Fort Chippewyan, and started up Peace River to cross the 
Rocky Mountains, and reach the Western Sea. He wintered on Peace River, 
trading for furs, and experiencing the warm Chinook winds coming through the 
Peace River pass, thought the Western Sea very near. 
1793.—In oe spring the explorer went on his way, ascending Peace River. Upon 
July 22, the daring traveller, after almost unimaginable hardships, reached the 
Pacific Ocean, and inscribed on the face of a rock: “Alexander Mackenzie, from 
Canada by land, 22nd July, 1793.” This was the first crossing of North America, 
north of Mexico, by the white man. 
Sec. II., 1886. 13. 
