212 Transactions of the Canadian Institute. [vol. ix 



the witness was by; but he understood no more than that it lay to the 

 northward of Churchill, and that the Governor was mighty fond of the 

 discovery, and made great inquiries about it. 



"That the Interpreter reported the answers of the Indians to the 

 Governor and Council, of which the witness was one; and they described 

 the mine somet mes as a gold mine, sometimes as a copper mine; and that 

 the witness has seen copper which was said to be brought from thence, 

 but he does not know whether it was so or not; that the Governor was 

 very earnest in this discovery, which was always his topic, and he took 

 all opportunities of making presents to the natives ; and the witness 

 himself carried Mr. Norton, who was afterwards Governor, and two 

 northern Indians, to Churchill, where he put them in a canoe; and the 

 purpose of their voyage was to make discoveries, and encourage the In- 

 dians to come down to trade, and bring copper ore ; that he can't recol- 

 lect, that he ever heard how far it was to this copper mine; nor does he 

 know whether there is an easy passage to it by land, having never travel- 

 led by land himself, nor heard of any expedition of that kind, except 

 that undertaken by Norton and the two Indians aforesaid." 



In 1768 Richard Norton was dead, but his half-breed son Moses 

 Norton had been appointed Governor of Fort Churchill in his place, and 

 during that year some Indians brought in beautiful specimens of copper 

 from that fabled copper country. Norton was so interested in these 

 new specimens from a country of which he had already doubtless heard 

 much from his father and others, that he took passage on the annual 

 ship to England and laid before the Governors of the Company a pro- 

 ject for what he believed to be the complete exploration of the country 

 and a definite settlement of the question of whether there was available 

 copper within reach of the shores of Hudson Bay or not. It is interest- 

 ing to note that the same ship which took Governor Norton to England 

 had brought out William Wales and Joseph Dymond to observe the 

 transit of Venus at Churchill. 



In the following year Mr. Norton returned from England with 

 authority to send out one of his clerks named Samuel Hearne to explore 

 the Coppermine country. The following is an extract from the instruc- 

 tions of the Company as given by Hearne himself.* 



"From the good opinion we entertain of you, and Mr. Norton's 

 recommendation, we have agreed to raise your wages to £130 per annum 

 for two years, and have placed you in our Council at Prince of Wales's 

 Fort." 



* Hearne's Journey (New Edition). Toronto, 1911. With Introduction, &c., by 

 J. B. Tyrrell. P. 50. 



