The Hudson's Bay Expedition. 27 



country surrounding it, each of the six years from 1875 to 1881, 

 both inclusive, and was therefore in a position to give much 

 valuable information to the committee. Besides, he had passed 

 through Hudson Strait, and had been to considerable trouble in 

 collecting information from others concerning the navigability of 

 those waters. 



Having travelled much over the country, he gave it as his 

 opinion, based on an extensive knowledge of engineering, that 

 there were no great obstacles in the way of the construction of a 

 railway from Winnipeg to Hudson's Bay. He further stated that 

 the Bay and Strait were open long enough each year to be utilized 

 for ordinary commerce, or to the extent of four and a-half months, 

 and possibly longer. His own language was : " We know them 

 both to be open for four and a-half months at least ; say, from the 

 middle, and certainly from the end, of June until the middle of 

 November." The Doctor gave a full account of the resources of 

 the Bay and Strait and surrounding country, all of which was 

 exceedingly favourable to their value. 



Staff- Commander J. G. Boulton, R.N., was examined on the 26th 

 of February. He had been to Ungava Bay, but his personal 

 knowledge of the Bay and Strait was very limited. " What I 

 would wish to do," he said, " would be to offer a few suggestions as to 

 what I consider the best way to acquire further information, and to 

 establish the duration of the navigable season, which seems to me 

 to be the great object. I should first propose that the Dominion 

 Government would hire a steamer — one of the St. John's, New- 

 foundland, steamers, for instance, which are always at hand ; and 

 her captain should be one of the St. John's sealing captains, well 

 experienced in ice navigation — if possible, the captain of the same 

 vessel — and he should have the selection of his crew ; and if you 

 want a pilot, the Dominion Government could apply to the Hud- 

 son's Bay Company for a man who has been in their service. 

 Perhaps one of the mates of the two vessels, Ocean Nymph and 

 Prince of Wales, which go to York Factory now, might be lent, if 

 there is no retired man who would be suitable and available for the 

 work. The British Admiralty should also be applied to for a sur- 



