16 EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION 



in trading, recounted on page 285, where, after an Indian had 

 received full payment for the furs which he had brought in, 

 he was given in addition the long list of articles there enumer- 

 ated. Apparently, the Indian was not refused anything if he 

 persisted in asking. 



This habit of acceding to requests to avoid dispute and 

 difficulty, rather than any real fear of personal danger, accounts 

 for Hearne's surrender of Fort Prince of Wales to the French 

 without a struggle. In this case it is quite possible that, in 

 spite of the great strength of the fort which he occupied, he 

 was really not able to make effective resistance against his 

 powerful and determined enemy, who outnumbered him more 

 than ten to one. Although the fort mounted forty heavy 

 guns, and v/as provided with plenty of ammunition and small 

 arms, it had only thirty-nine men within its walls at the time. 

 But even if Hearne had had a stronger garrison, it is doubtful 

 whether he would have attempted resistance, for his training 

 in the service of the Hudson's Bay Company had taught him 

 to preserve the peace at any price, and it was impossible for 

 him to set aside at a moment's notice what had become second 

 nature to him. 



We have seen that Hearne had not the forceful character 

 possessed by Alexander Mackenzie ; yet, as a man must be 

 judged by the results which he achieves, it is perhaps all the 

 more creditable to him to have done what he did with his 

 more complaisant and observant disposition. Though he 

 could not control the Indians with whom he travelled, he 

 nevertheless accomplished his purpose of making the journey, 

 and has left a splendid record of it to enrich posterity. He 

 was hardly a great geographer, though he added largely to the 

 geographical knowledge of Northern Canada west of Hudson 

 Bay. It was he who finally set at rest the question of a 

 north-west passage by sea to China and the Orient, south of 

 the mouth of the Coppermine River. He knew nothing of 

 mines or ores, and the information he brought back about the 



