ACEOSS THE SUB-ARCTICS OF CANADA 



his own description and crude sketch, directly in front of 

 the present Hudson's Bay Company's trading station. 

 Two or more small buildings appear to have been erected 

 upon the west side of the harbor, and this constituted the 

 earliest known occupation of this most important harbor on 

 the shores of Hudson Bay. The experiences of that early 

 occupation, moreover, form one of the saddest pages in it* 

 whole history, for without relating all the terrible details 

 of their sufferings, we are informed by Munk that he him- 

 self and two sailors were the only survivors of that awful 

 winter. The immediate cause of their destruction was due 

 to a lingering disease, which was undoubtedly scurvy, the 

 result of inactivity, uncleanliness and dissipation. 



During the year 1631 two expeditions, under the respec- 

 tive commands of Captain Luke Fox and Captain Thomas 

 James, were engaged in exploratory work in Hudson Bay — 

 the latter wintering on Charlton Island, • where because of 

 inexperience and ignorance much suffering was endured. 

 Both expeditions returned to England, whence they had 

 sailed, without having accomplished anything of substantial 

 importance. 



So little interest resulted from the efforts of these last two 

 expeditions that for a period of thirty-seven years we have 

 no record of other ships having visited the bay ; but history 

 informs us that in 1659 information concerning the Great 

 Bay was obtained by two French-Canadian fur traders, 

 Eadisson and Groseilliers, who were so impressed with the 

 possibilities of trade in that quarter that they returned to 

 Quebec with the object of interesting capital in a project to 

 establish permanent trading-posts on the shores of the vast 

 inland sea. 



Meeting with opposition rather than support at Quebec, 

 Groseilliers sought assistance at the English settlement of 

 Boston, and later at Paris, but at all of these places he 

 failed in the accomplishment of his purpose. However, at 



232 



