PREFACE ix 



has visited the regions described by Hearne, Mr. Tyrrell 

 writes : — 



" I happen to be the only one since Hearne who has conducted 

 explorations in the country lying between Fort Churchill and the 

 eastern end of Great Slave Lake and south of latitude 63° N. Except 

 Hearne, I and those who accompanied and assisted me are the only 

 white men who have crossed that great stretch of country, north of 

 a line between the mouth of the Churchill River and Lake Athabasca 

 and a line between the east end of Great Slave Lake and Chesterfield 

 Inlet. Absolutely the only information that I had about the region 

 when I visited it, other than what I had secured in conversation with 

 Indians, was contained in Hearne's book. My last journey was made 

 sixteen years ago, and no white man has since travelled across that 

 country. With the building of the railroad to Fort Churchill, it will 

 doubtless soon be visited. Since I made a survey of Chesterfield Inlet 

 and its vicinity, my brother, Mr. J. W. Tyrrell, has crossed from the 

 east end of Great Slave Lake by the Hanbury River to Chesterfield 

 Inlet, making a survey as he went, and the Royal North West Mounted 

 Police have sent parties from the Mackenzie River to Hudson Bay 

 along this route, using my brother's maps as their guide. It is hardly 

 necessary to say that a magnificent field for exploration is still left in 

 that far northern country." 



So much as to Mr. Tyrrell's work. For the notes ex- 

 plaining Hearne's many observations on natural history we 

 are indebted to Mr. E. A. Preble of Washington. Mr. Preble 

 spent a summer on the west shore of Hudson Bay north of Fort 

 Churchill. He also spent the summers of 1901 and 1903, 

 the winter of 1903-4, and the summers of 1904 and 1907 

 on the Athabasca and Mackenzie Rivers and on the Barren 

 Grounds north of Great Slave Lake. This most important 

 study of the fauna of Northern Canada was undertaken 

 by Mr. Preble on behalf of the Biological Survey of the 

 United States Department of Agriculture. The various 

 reports and other publications arising from the journeys of 

 Mr. Tyrrell and the investigations of Mr, Preble are mentioned 

 in a bibliographical note at the end of this volume. 



