A JOURNEY TO THE SHORES 



OF 



THE POLAR SEA. 



CHAPTEE I. 



Departure from England — Transactions at Stromness— Enter Davis' Straits — Perilous Situation 

 on the Shore of Resolution Island — Land on the Coast of Labrador — Eskimaux of Savage 

 Islands — York Factory — Preparations for the Journey into the Interior. 



May. On Sunday, the 23d of May, the whole of our party em- 

 barked at Gravesend on board the ship Prince of Wales, belonging 

 to the Hudson's Bay Company, just as she was in the act of getting 

 under weigh, with her consorts the Eddy stone and Wear. The wind 

 being unfavourable, and on the ebb tide being finished, the vessels 

 were again anchored ; but they weighed in the night, and beat down 

 as far as the Warp, where they were detained two days by a strong 

 easterly wind. 



Having learned from some of the passengers, who were the trading 

 Officers of the Company, that the arrival of the ships at either of the 

 establishments in Hudson's Bay, gives full occupation to all the 

 boatmen in their service, who are required to convey the necessary 

 stores to the different posts in the interior ; that it was very pro- 

 bable a sufficient number of men might not be procured from this 

 indispensable duty ; and, considering that any delay at York Factory 

 would materially retard our future operations, I wrote to the Under 



B 



