ee 
THE PHYSIOGRAPHY OF LABRADOR 53 
interior of Labrador. The amalgamation of these rival 
companies led to the abandonment of many of these small 
posts, of which all trace is now lost. 
“In 1824, the Hudson’s Bay Company sent Dr. Mendrys 
from Moose Factory on Hudson Bay, across the peninsula 
in canoes, to establish Fort Chimo on Ungava Bay. This 
trip was the basis of Ballantyne’s popular story, Ungava. 
“At the same time James Clouston was mapping the 
country between the Nottaway and East Main rivers, 
which flow into Hudson Bay. The next record of explora- 
tion is contained in Twenty-five Years in the Hudson’s Bay 
Territory by John McLean. In the period 1838-1840 he 
made annual trips from Fort Chimo to Hamilton Inlet, 
and on one trip discovered the Grand Falls of Hamilton 
River. In 1857 the Hudson’s Bay Company had nine 
posts and outposts established in the country north of 
the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Owing to changes in the con- 
ditions of the Indians, these posts have been gradually 
abandoned, and but two, Nichicun and Mistassini, remain 
at the present time. These are situated on the head 
waters of the Big and Rupert rivers, which flow into Hud- 
son Bay, and are not within the province of this book. 
The old posts of Nascaupee, Michikamou, and Winokapau 
on the Hamilton River were abandoned in 1873, and the 
Indians belonging to them now trade at posts on the Gulf 
of St. Lawrence. 
“With the closing of the trading posts all knowledge of 
the interior was lost, and it can only be recovered by new 
explorations. In 1887, R. F. Holmes attempted to reach 
the Grand Falls of the Hamilton, but being without proper 
canoes and crew, only reached Lake Winokapau, a little 
over halfway up the river. Two separate expeditions 
from the United States ascended to the Grand Falls within 
a few days of each other in 1891, and accounts of their trips 
were published in the geographical journals and in the 
Century Magazine. 
