294 A JOURNEY TO THE 



1772. at which we arrived early in the morning of the twenty- 

 eighth ; but the wind again blowing very hard in the North 



29th. East quarter, it was the afternoon of the twenty-ninth before 

 we could attempt to cross it. 



Just at the time we were crossing the South branch of 

 Po-co-thee-kis-co River, the Indians that were sent from Egg 

 River with a letter to the Chief at Churchill, joined us on 

 their return, and brought a little tobacco and some other 

 articles which I had desired. Though it was late in the 

 afternoon before we had all crossed the river, yet we walked 

 that evening till after ten o'clock, and then put up on one 

 of the Goose-hunting Islands, as they are generally called, 

 about ten miles from the Factory. The next morning I 

 arrived in good health at Prince of Wales's Fort, after having 



the time he wrote, which was long before a settlement was made there, wood 

 was in great plenty on both sides the river ; and that within five miles of where 

 Prince of Wales's Fort now stands. But as to the islands of which he speaks, 

 if they ever existed, they have of late years most assuredly disappeared ; for 

 since the Company have had a settlement on that river, no one ever saw 

 an island in it that produced timber, or wood of any description, within forty 

 miles of the Fort. But the great number of stumps now remaining, from 

 which, in all probability, the trees have been cut for firing, are sufficient 

 to prove that when Churchill River was first settled, wood was then in great 

 plenty ; but in the course of seventy-six years residence in one place, it is 

 natural to suppose it was much thinned near the Settlement. Indeed for some 

 years past common fewel is so scarce near that Factory, that it is the chief 

 employment of most of the servants for upward of seven months in the year, 

 to procure as much wood as will supply the fires for a Winter, and a little 

 timber for necessary repairs.^ 



[^ Mr. Jeremie was in charge of York Factory for six years, from 1708 to 

 17 14, while it was in the hands of the French. His reference to the presence 

 of native copper among the Plascotez de Chiens, or Dog Rib Indians, who 

 inhabit the country between the mouth of the Mackenzie and the Coppermine 

 River, is particularly interesting : — 



" lis ont dans leur Pays une Mine de Cuivre rouge^ si abondante & si 

 pure, que, sans le passer par la forge, tel qu'ils le ramassent k la Mine, ils ne 

 font que le frapper entre deux pi^rres, & en font tout ce qu'ils veulent. J'en 

 ai vu fort souvent, parce que nos Sauvages en apportoient toutes les fois qu'ils 

 alloient en guerre de ces cotez la'." {Jeremie. " Relation du Detroit et de la 

 Bale de Hudson," in " Recueil de Voyages au Nord." Par J. F. Bernard. 

 10 vols. i2mo. Amsterdam. 1724. Tom. v. p. 404.)] 



