ACROSS THE SUB-ARCTICS OF CANADA 



This is not so, however, in the case of the Churchill, the 

 mouth of which, on being surveyed by me, was found to 

 afford an excellent natural harbor, with nine fathoms of 

 water at low tide up to the entrance, and from four to five 

 fathoms within. 



A map of this harbor, prepared from my own surveys, 

 , made on different occasions, is presented herewith, and shows 

 the relative positions of the various points of interest, such 

 as the Hudson's Bay Company's post, old Fort Prince of 

 "Wales, the Mission station, Sloops Cove (where the Furnace 

 and Discovery wintered in 1741), the whaling station on the 

 east side of the harbor, the available anchorage for ships, the 

 best railway terminal site, and, lastly, the Police Barracks, 

 only recently established, and occupied by Major Moodie and 

 his men. 



HiSTOEICAL StTMMAEY. 



Before dealing with the more important questions of the 

 resources and navigation of the bay, it may be of interest to 

 briefly review the history of its discovery and exploration. 

 As every Canadian schoolboy knows, the discovery of the 

 bay was made by Henry Hudson, in the year 1610. Being 

 an experienced navigator in foreign seas, he was given com- 

 mand of the Discovery — a small vessel of 55 tons, outfitted 

 by English capitalists — -and in this he set sail for the discov- 

 ery of the long-looked-f or ISTorth-west Passage. In the accom- 

 plishment of this object he was unsuccessful, although a 

 greater achievement attended his efforts, in winning which dis- 

 tinction he forfeited his ovrai life and that of his son, both of 

 whom, with a loyal carpenter, John King, were sent adrift in 

 an open boat by a mutinous crew, the leaders of which were 

 soon afterwards murdered by Eskimos. Such was the first 

 tragic scene enacted by civilized men in the great theatre of 

 Hudson Bay. 



Although the discovery of the bay is attributed to Hudson, 



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