10 EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION 



where in that country upon the shore near the surface of the earth, 

 and they could direct the sloop so near it, as to lay her side to it, 

 and be soon laden with it ; and they brought some pieces of copper 

 from it to Churchill that made it evident there was a mine there- 

 abouts. They had sketched out the country with charcoal upon 

 a skin of parchment before they left Churchill, and so far as they 

 went it agreed very well. One of the Indians desired to leave him, 

 saying he was within three or four days' journey of his own country, 

 but he would not let him go. Captain Norton, late Governor of 

 Churchill, was then with him." 



The Captain Norton here mentioned was the father of 

 Governor Moses Norton who afterwards despatched Hearne 

 to look for the Coppermine River. Captain Carruthers, who 

 is mentioned above, and who, according to his own statement, 

 had " quitted " the service of the Hudson's Bay Company 

 thirty-five years before 1748, said that he "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 Indians to come down to trade and bring copper ore." ^ 



The journey of Mr. Norton referred to by Captain 

 Carruthers was probably undertaken about 17 14, in which 

 year York Factory was restored to the English, after having 

 been occupied by the French for seventeen years. Probably 

 it was on account of this and similar journeys that, in 17 19, 

 a gratuity of ^^ 1 5 was voted to Mr. Norton by the Hudson's 

 Bay Company, on account of having endured " great hard- 

 ships in travelling among the Indians." In 1733 ^^^ same 

 Mr. Norton wrote to the directors of the Hudson's Bay 

 Company in London that he had " served your Honors many 

 years and gone through many difficulties and hardships in 

 taking long journeys with the natives to promote your trade 

 with them, even many times to the hazard of my own life." ^ 



In the same Parliamentary Report Alexander Browne, 



* Hudson's Bay Report, 1749, p. 230. - Ibid., p. 271. 



