NORTHERN OCEAN. 301 
obliged to wait near ten hours before we could 1772. 
venture to crofs it in our little canoes. In the ew 
after- 
‘farther ‘* North ;”’ for in my opinion he never was fo far North or Weftas 
he pretends, otherwife he would have been more corre¢t in his defcripti- 
on of thofe parts. 
The Strait he mentions is undoubtedly no other than what is now 
“called Chefterfield’s Inlet, which, in fome late and cold feafons, it not clear 
of ice the whole Summer: for I will affirm, that no Indian, either Nor- 
thern or Southern, ever faw either Wager Water or Repulfe Bay, except 
the two men who accompanied Captain Middleton; and though thofe 
men were feleéted from fome hundreds for their univerfal knowledge of 
thofe parts, yet they knew nothing of the coaft fo far North as Marble 
Mland. 
Asa farther proof, that no Indians, except the Efquimaux, ever fre- 
_quent fuch high latitudes, unlefs at a great diflance from the fea, | muft 
here mention, that fo late as the year 1763, when Captain Chriftopher 
went to furvey Chefterficld’s Inlet, though he was furnifhed with the 
moft intelligent and experienced Northern Indians that could be 
found, they did not know an inch of the land to the North of Whale 
Cove. 
Mr. Jeremie is al’ as much miftaken in what he fays concerning 
Charchill River, as he was in the direétion of Seal River; for he fays that 
no woods were found but in fome iflands which lie about ten or twelve 
miles up the river. At the time he wrote, which was long befoiea fet- 
tlement was made there, wood was in great plenty on both fides the rie 
ver; and that within five miles of where Prince of Wales’s Fort now 
’ftands. But asto the iflands of which he fpeaks, if they ever exilted, 
they have of late years moft affuredly difappeared ; for fince the Com- 
pany have hada fettlement on that river, no one ever faw an ifland in it 
that produced timber, or wood of any defcription, within forty miles 
of the Fort. But the great number of ftumps now remaining, from which, 
in all probability, the trees have been cut for firing, are {ufficient to prove 
that when Churchill River was firft fettled, wood was then in great plen- 
ty; but in the courfe of feventy-fix years refidence in one place, it is na- 
tural to fuppofe it was much thinned near the Settlement. Indeed for 
fome yeats paft common fewel is fo fearce near that Factory, that it is the 
chief employment of molt of the fervants for upward of feven months in 
the year, to procure as much wood as will fupply the te for a Winter, 
| and a little timber for neceflary repairs. 
