412 A JOURNEY TO THE 



on examination they have not that conical form ; and many 

 of them are only composed of three or four lobes, while 

 others consist of nearly twenty. The flavour of this berry 

 is far from unpleasing, and it is eaten by our people in con- 

 siderable quantities during the season, (which is August,) 

 and, like all the other fruits in those parts, is supposed to 

 be wholesome, and a great antiscorbutic. 



Currans. CuRRANS,^ both red and black, are common about 



Churchill River, but the latter are far more plentiful than 

 the former, and are very large and fine. The bushes on 

 which those currans grow, frequently exceed three feet in 

 height, and generally thrive best in those parts that are moist 

 but not swampy. Small vallies between the rocks, at some 

 little distance from the woods, are very favourable to them ; 

 and I have frequently observed that the fruit produced in 

 those situations is larger and finer than that which is found 

 in the woods. Those berries have a very great effect on some 

 people if eaten in any considerable quantities, by acting as 

 a very powerful purgative, and in some as an emetic at the 

 same [452] time ; but if mixed with Cranberries, they never 

 have that effect. 



Juniper- JuNiPER-BERRiEs " are frequently found near the new 



settlement at Churchill River, but by no means in such plenty 

 as in the more Southern and interior parts of the country. 

 The bush they grew on is so similar to the creeping pine, that 

 one half of the Company's servants residing in Hudson's Bay 

 do not know one from the other. Like the Gooseberry 

 bushes in those parts, the fruit is always most plentiful on the 

 under side of the branches. They are not much esteemed 

 either by the Indians or English, so that the few that are 



[^ The northern red currant, Ribes rubrmn Linn., and the black currant, 

 Ribes hudsoniatium Richardson, are species of wide distribution in the north.] 



[* Apparently Hearne refers to Juniperus nana Willd., the dwarf juniper, 

 since Richardson gives the same Indian name as applied by the Crees to this 

 shrub. Granting this, Hearne's creeping pine is Jumperiis sabina Linn., 

 shrubby red cedar. Both species extend northward to the tree-limit.] 



berries. 



