Barlow had been lost on that inhospitable island, 

 where neither stick nor stump was to be seen, and 

 which lies near sixteen miles from the main land. In- 

 deed the main is little better, being a jumble of bar- 

 ren hills and rocks, destitute of every kind of her- 

 bage except mo88 9 $c. ; and, at that part, the woods 

 are several hundred miles from the sea side."* 



Further, " With regard to that part of my instruc- 

 tions, which directs me to observe the nature of the 

 soil, &c. it must be observed, that during the whole 

 time of my absence from the fort, 1 was invariably con- 

 fined to stony hills and barren plains all the sum- 



In the latitude of about 68 north, longitude 119 

 west of London, they fell in with the Stony Mountains, 

 " And surely," says Mr. Hearn, " no part of the 

 world better deserves that name. On our first ap- 

 proaching these mountains, they appeared to be a 

 confused heap of stones, utterly inaccessible to the 

 foot of man." 



And of the face of the whole country, inhabited by 

 what are called the northern indians, he says, " The 

 tract of land inhabited by the northern indians is very 

 extensive, reaching from the fifty ninth to the sixty 

 eighth degree of north latitude, and from east to west is 

 upwards of five hundred miles wide. It is bounded by 

 Churchill river on the south, Athapusean Indians' 

 country on the west ; the Dog-ribbed and Copper In- 



* Hearn's Journey, Introduction page xxix. f Page xviii. 



