364 RISING OF THE LAND AROUND HUDSON BAY. 



Tri 1674 Charles Bayley, then local governor for the Hudson Bay 

 Company, sailed through in a sloop between Agoomski Island and the 

 main west shore of James Bay. It would now be impossible to pass 

 here in a seagoing vessel of any kind. In 1886 I found it difficult to 

 get through in bark canoes, drawing only a few inches of water. The 

 shoaling is not due to a silting up, since the almost dry bottom consists 

 of a level surface of till with bowlders scattered thickly over it. 



From 1675 to 1685 the Hudson Bay Company's establishment in the 

 mouth of Moose Eiver was upon Hayes Island, which, it is to be pre- 

 sumed, was selected for convenience of landing goods from their vessels 

 and shipping out their returns. This island is now unapproachable 

 except by canoes and small boats. For more than two hundred years 

 the factory^ has stood upon Moose Island, the next below Hayes Island. 

 The annual ship from England anchors in the channel cut through the 

 sands oif the mouth of Moose Eiver. On account of the risk of rough 

 water it is necessary to discharge the cargo by schooners. Within the 

 memory of living men these schooners could ascend to a wharf built 

 opposite the large storehouse of the factory. But for many years the 

 same schooners have been unable to ascend all the way, and the cargo 

 requires to be transferred into scows, which complete the trip to the 

 wharf; and the distance to which the schooners can ascend is constantly 

 diminishing. In the beginning of the present century Princess Island, 

 a narrow, bnshy strip immediately in front of the factory, was separated 

 by a channel with a good depth of water at the lowest tides. Last 

 autumn I saw it quite dry on several occasions during ebb tide. It is 

 well known to everyone who has lived at this post in the present gener- 

 ation that every now and then a new "lump" will appear in the bed of 

 the river and become permanent, growing higher and higher, event- 

 ually escaping submergence at most tides and at length becoming 

 covered with grass and then with bushes. Some islands which were 

 covered only with bushes forty or fifty years ago now support a growth 

 of young trees. The small one on the west side of Middleboro, below 

 Moose Island, is an example of this, and the appearance of the trees 

 upon it is within the memory of Mr. Broughton, the gentleman now in 

 charge of Moose Factory. Middleton Island, between the mouths of 

 Eupert and Noddawai rivers, lies close to the east shore of Eupert Bay. 

 Up to a few years ago canoes and boats could pass at high tide through 

 the long, narrow, grassy channel behind this island, but last autumn I 

 found it impossible to do so with my canoes, and we were obliged, at 

 great inconvenience, to go round outside. 



Two hundred years ago the ships of the Hudson Bay Company appear 

 to have had no difficulty in entering the mouths of various rivers on 

 the Eastmain Coast, which can not now be used as harbors. In old 

 times the principal post of the company on that coast was in the mouth 

 of Eastmain Eiver, which had no doubt been chosen because it afitbrded 



1 Factory, a residence of a factor or agent. 



