OF THE POLAR SEA. 



47 



journey, and directed the carpenters to com- 

 mence refitting it immediately ; but he was 

 only able to furnish us with a steersman, 

 and we were obliged to make up the rest 

 of the crew with the boatmen brought from 

 Stromness, and our two attendants. 



York Factory, the principal depot of the 

 Hudson's Bay Company, stands on the west 

 bank of Hayes' River, about five miles 

 above its mouth, on the marshy peninsula 

 which separates the Hayes and Nelson 

 Rivers. The surrounding country is flat 

 and swampy, and covered with willows, 

 poplars, larch, spruce, and birch-trees ; but 

 the requisition for fuel has expended all the 

 wood in the vicinity of the fort, and the re- 

 sidents have now to send for it to a consi- 

 derable distance. The soil is alluvial clay, 

 and contains imbedded rolled stones. Though 

 the bank of the river is elevated about 

 twenty feet, it is frequently overflown by 

 the spring-floods, and large portions are 

 annually carried away by the disruption of 

 the ice, which, grounding in the stream, 

 have formed several muddy islands. These 



