HUDSON'S BAY. 



327 



in 1746, the former of whom discovered Repulse Bay, 

 and the latter explored Wager's Strait and Chesterfield 

 Inlet, so as to ascertain with sufficient certainty, that 

 no passage existed in that direction. 



The Company's settlements around the whole extent 



fdkt Com- of Hudson's Bay are only four, viz. Prince of Wales, or 

 Churchhill Fort, the mo-t northern of the factories, si- 

 tu.itrd at the mouth of Churchhill river, in 59 N. I-aL; 

 York Fort, formerly called Bourbon by the French, a 

 square building, flanked with bastions, standing on an 

 island between two branches of Nelson's river, in 5?*' J 

 N Lat. ; Albany Fort, called by the French St Anne, 

 or the river Albany, in .V> 3 18' N. Lat.; and ' 

 Fort, or Mon.-ipi, or St Louis, at the mouth of a small 

 river on the south border of James's Bay, in 51' 28' 

 N . I .at. Besides these, are several smaller establish- 

 ments, particularly Severn House, dependent on York 

 Fort, in 5<j 12' N. Lat. and East-mam, or Prince Ru- 

 pert'*, in 53 24', connected with Moose Fort 



The climate around the Bay is extremely severe, es- 

 pecially at Churchhill Fort. From the middle of Oc- 

 tober to the middle of May, the country is buried under 

 frost and snow. In the year 1775, one of the severest 

 leainns remembered by the oldest residents, the snow 

 at the latter end of May lay level with the wall of the 

 fort ; and the ice in the river and 



bay did not break up till the end of June. Even at 

 York Fort, though two degrees farther south, Fahren- 

 heit's thermometer has frequently stood at 5O below 



aero in the month of January ; and brandy, or 



strong brine, exposed to the air for a few hours, will 



freeze to solid ice. In the cellars eight or ten feet 



deep, and below the guard rooms, where a daily and 



almost perpetual fire is kept up, London porter has 



been so frosen that only a few gallons could be got 



out of a whole hogshead ; and the remainder, con- 

 verted to ice, was found, upon being thawed, to have 



no strength remaining. Toe lakes and rivers, which 



are not above 10 or 12 feet deep, are frosen to the 



ground ; and the springs are uniformly bound by the 



frost to the greatest depth that lias been dug. The 



most piercing cold i* felt at sun-rising ; and is particu- 

 larly intolerable during the prevalence of the north 

 The air is frequently filled with particles of 



ice, sharp and angular, and sufficiently perceptible to 



the eye, which, in Mowing weather, occasion a most 



painful sensation of cold ; sad, if driven upon the face 



or hands, raise the sk . . hard, white blUters, 



which, if not immediately rubbed, or warmed, are apt 



to break out into hot watery issues. The utmost pre- 

 cautions against the effect* of the cold are necessarily 



employed by the European residents. The windows 



of the factories are very mall, and provided with thick 



wooden -ihulter*. whicti ><-- c|,,.-ly AM I- IsMn 01 



the i'. .r. As soon a* the wo>l in their large 



fires is burnt down to a coal, the lops) of the chimnie* 



are stopped with an iron cover to keep the heat 



the house , and, three or four times a day. red hot iron 



shot of 24 .-e suspended in the windows of the 



apartment-. Yet '.! this will not the beer, 



wine, and ink from freesing ; and after the ores go out, 



the insides of the walls and bed-place* are lound co- 

 vered with ice two or three indies thi. V, which u every 



morning cut away with hatchet. For * winter dress, 



they use three pair of socks of coarse blanketing or 



i'b raMot hulorjr of ih Hudson'* tj <amprf. particularly at costMcted with iu dUpute* with th North, wf.i Company, will 

 t (buad IB Lord Selkirk ' puaphltt. ... ,-.ld. A Ahrfe* ./!* Unit* fmr T,vU M JVwl* Amtntt, *( OtwrMUitiw rfrl,* to tit 

 y~+.WUt l-p**f f JW*r .-/. -IS. 



t eB snick CBEKVIAITD, TO! x. p. 487 ; s4 UALO. roj. x p. 6lt. 



Duffield for the feet, with a pair of deer-skin shoes over Hudson', 

 them ; two pair of thick English stockings, and a pair *** 

 of cloth stockings over them ; breeches lined with flan- ^"Y" 

 nel ; two or three English jackets, and a fur or leather 

 gown ; a large beaver cap, double to come over the face 

 and shoulders, and a cloth of blanketing urnler the 

 chin ; yarn gloves, and a large pair of beaver mit'.tMij, 

 hanging down from the shoulder, ready to receive Un- 

 hand* as high as tne elbows. Yet, with all this cover- 

 they are frequently severely frost bitten, when 

 they stir abroad during the prevalence of the northerly 

 winds; and many of the n,,tivi> even tall victims ti- 

 the severity of the climate. Watery vapours, ascend- 

 trom the open ><.! water, and condensed by the 

 cold, occasion thick fogs, which are carried to a con- 

 siderable distance along the coat, and which obscure 

 the sun completely for several weeks together. But, 

 during the intense cold of winter, the atmosphere it 

 commonly remarkably clear and serene ; and the stars 

 shine during the night with extraordinary lu-nv. The 

 aurora boreal is particularly is ,-een almost every night 

 during winter, darting with inconceivable velocity over 

 the whole hemisphere, exhibiting il.e greatest variety 

 of colours, and often co. eclipsing the stars and 



planets by its brightness. 1'urhclia. and paraselene, or 

 mock suns and moons as they are commonly called, 

 appear v*ry frequently during the colder months ; and, 

 at the same time, corona? of different diameters and 

 various colours are seen around the sun for several days 

 together from his rising to his setting, t The frost is 

 never out of the ground ; and even in summer, when 

 the heat is oppressive, and the thermometer frequently 

 a. 90 degrees of Fahrenheit, the earth is thawed only 

 to the depth of three or four feet below the surface. 

 The climate, nevertheless, is extremely salubrious 

 throughout the whole year ; and Europeans, with the 

 ital injui ' 



of accidental injuries from exposure to the 

 cold, enjoy in general an excellent state of health in 

 tlu- country. 



On the eastern coast of Hudson's Bay, the soil U Soil. 

 completely barren ; and about Lat. no 1 vegetation en- 

 tirely ceases. The surface of the country is extremely 

 rugged, covered with enormous masses of stone ; and 

 in many places are seen the most frightful mountain* 

 of an astonishing height. Its barren vallies are wut 

 by a chain of lakes, which are supposed to be forme.! 

 merely by rain and snow, and of which the water is so 

 cold, as to be productive only of a few small trout. A 

 little moss, or a blighted shrub, may be seen here and 

 there on the mountains, ami a few stunted tree* in tin- 

 lower grounds. The soil about Cli u nh.>. .ex- 

 tremely rocky and barren, and bare of vegetable pro- 

 ductions. There are no woods within seven miles of 

 the shore ; and those which are found at that distance 

 consist only of a few stunted junip. pop- 

 burs, scarcely capable of affording a aufiirienry <>l win- 

 .!! to the Factory. Upon advancing northward 

 from that settlement, the earth becomes gradually niurr 

 unproductive and desolate, till at Itiv > .-..: nil- least 

 herb is to be seen, nor any trace of human step olxu r 

 in the frigid waste. The produce of a few garden 

 seeds, put into the ground about the middle of .' 

 and shooting up with surprising rapidity, is ell that 

 the residents are able to gather from the adjoining soil. 

 At York Fort, the soil, which is of a very loose and 



