low.] JAMES' BAY. 7 J 



1611. — Sir Thomas Button was sent out to discover the north-west sir Thomas 

 passage from the bay, and if possible to succour Hudson and his com- 

 rades. He crossed the bay to the northward and explored the western 

 part as far south as the Nelson River, which he named after his mate. 

 He wintered in the mouth of this river and called the land New Wales 

 and the western part of the bay Button's Bay. 



1619. — Jens Munk, a Dane, entered Hudson Bay and visited Thorn- J&g Monk, 

 field Inlet, 



1631. — *Capts. Lucas Fox and Thomas James were sent out on the f ox and James, 

 old quest of the north-west passage, the former being fitted out by Lon- 

 don merchants, the latter by those of Bristol. Before leaving they 

 were presented to the King, who gave them letters for the Emperor of 

 Japan. Fox confined himself to the northern parts, going as far south 

 only as Cape Henrietta Maria, and then returning home. James, after 

 meeting Fox, near Cape Henrietta Maria, sailed southward along the 

 west coast, thoroughly examined it, and after several narrow escapes 

 from shipwreck through grounding on shoals, ran his ship aground 

 on Charleton Island and wintered there. He gives a woeful tale of the 

 hardships endured, caused by the intense cold, want of food and scurvy. 

 He states that the cold was so intense that it froze solid, wine, sack, 

 oil, vinegar, and even brandy ; that the cook soaked his salt meat 

 in a copper kettle close to the fire to prevent it from freezing, the side 

 near the fire was found to be quite warm while the opposite side was 

 frozen an inch thick, this would prove that the climate is either much, 

 milder at present during the winter, or that James was given to exag- 

 geration, most probably the latter. Thinking that the ship was beyond 

 repair, in the spring he built a pinnace, but when the ice cleared it was 

 found that the ship had not suffered much damage, after repairing it 

 he returned home. 



The entire western coast having now been explored, the impossibility 

 of a north-west passage from it was settled, and no further voyages of 

 discovery in that direction were undertaken. 



1656. — The Frenchy claim that Jean Bourdon was the first of that 1656 _ Firgt visit 

 nationality who visited Hudson Bay, having sailed from Quebec by the of the French « 

 Labrador coast and Hudson straits. That he made an alliance with the 

 natives, and they hearing of a strange nation in their neighborhood, sent 

 to Quebec, in 1661, to begin trade, and to desire that a missionary be sent 

 to them. That in 1663 the Governor sent one Couture, who proceeded 

 to the bay and erected a cross on an eminence and set up the French 

 arms engraven in copper, taking possession of these countries for the 



* Forster's voyages made in the north. 

 t De la Poterie, Histoire de la Nouvelle France. 



