Chap. m. of the ENGLISH in AMERICA. 
formed the 19th of June^ 1611, by forcing Capt. Hud- 
fm d^vA eight more into the Shallop without Provifions, 
tho’ moil of them were taken lick out of Bed, who after 
that time were never heard of, but were either drowned, 
llarved, or murdered by the Savages ; Neither did the 
Leaders of this Mutiny efcape much better ; for being 
obliged to land frequently on the defart Coall, in order to 
obtain fome Subliftance, they fell there into a Fray with 
the Savages, in which Green and fome others were killed ; 
fo that very few, and thofe too in a miferable Condition, 
returned to England^ where Pricket wrote that Account of 
the Voyage for his own Jullification, from which we 
have made thefe Extracts. 
At firfl; there fell great Imputations upon this Man, be- 
caufe he adminillred the Oath to the Confpirators ; but 
upon an Enquiry it appeared very clearly, that this Oath 
contained nothing in it contrary to the Duty of the Sea- 
men ; and that the true Reafon why they preferved him 
was, becaufe that being Servant to Sir Dudley Diggs, who 
was a Man of great Pov/er and Reputation, they were in 
hopes he would interpofe, and fave their Lives, which 
they ought to have forfeited as Pirates. Upon this im- 
perfefl Account of HudfoPs Bay, feveral Perfons who 
had been engaged already, in Expeditions for theDifcovery 
of a North-well PalTage, began to hope that now they 
had a fairer Profpecl than ever of bringing this Projeft to 
bear, in cafe they could find any able Mariner who would 
undertake to profecute the Difcoveries made by Hudfon. 
His Royal Highnefs Henry, Prince of Wales, was the 
great Patron of Learning and Virtue at that time 
and being applied to by the Perfons concerned in this 
Projecl, he refolved to fend one Capt. Button, his own 
Servant, a Man of great Abilities, Courage, and Expe- 
perience, and having the Countenance of fo great a Per- 
ibn, was moll likely to maintain Difcipline amongll his 
Seamen. Accordingly, in the Year 1611, he failed on 
this Expedition, in which he palled HudfoPs Streights, 
and leaving HudfoPs Bay to the South failed above two 
hundred Leagues to the North-well, through a Sea above 
eighty Fathom deep, and difeovered a great Continent 
called by him New Wales-, where, after much Mifery and 
Sicknefs, wintering at Port Nelfon, he carefully fearched 
all the Bay, from him called Button’s Bay, back again, 
almoll to Diggs’s Ifland. He difeovered the great 
Ifland called Cary’ s Swans-nejl. He loft many of his Men 
during his Stay in the River called Port Nelfon, in fifty- 
feven Degrees ten Minutes North Latitude, though he 
kept three Fires in his Ship all Winter, and had great Store 
of white Partriges, and other Fowl, befides Deer, Bears, 
and^ Foxes. Upon his Return from this Voyage he 
received the Honour of Knighthood, and great Expefl- 
ations were raifed from his Difcoveries, which had cer- 
tainly been profecuted with Effed, if Prince Henry had 
not died foon after. 
It was a gre^t Pity that Sir fhomas Button, who was 
certainly a very underftanding Man, formed private Views 
of his own from the Knowledge he obtained in his Voy- 
age j which were of fuch a Nature, that he affirmed he 
his Mailer, King James, that there was a 
.i aflage this W^ay into the South Seas. The Realons upon 
which this Opinion was founded, as well as Notes of his 
Voyage, he promifed to give to Mr. Briggs, the famous 
Matheinatician, who had turned his Thoughts much upon 
tnis Subjeft, but never did ; which was the Reafon that 
all the Expeditions undertaken on that Side afterwards 
failed ^ but, however, we have fufficient Grounds to affirm, 
irom the Knowledge derived to us from another Quarter’ 
that^the Difcoveries of Sir fhomas Button, if profecuted’ 
advantageous to this Nation’ 
notwithllanding the feerning Rigour of the Climate, and 
Barrennels of the Country. 
ThQ French were in poireffion of Fort Bourhon, which 
we call New York Fort, upon 6’/. fherefa, the Eaftern 
Branch NjHdfon River, from the Year 1697 to 1714. 
J. onlieur who was Lieutenant there from 1607 
to 1708, and afterwards Governor till he gave it up, in 
1714,' to^ us, gives a very particular Account of that 
River an^ the adjoining Countries, great Part of which 
."VoL. II. Numb. 85. 
. ^45 
he affirms to be of his own Knowledge, having travelled 
a great way South-well into the Country, among the 
Rivers and Lakes. The Dani/h, or Chur child s River, upon 
which theHufdon’s Bay Company have lately built a ftrong 
Stone Fort, he fays is fituated in 59 Degrees North Lati- 
tude, and is about five hundred Paces wide at the Entrance 
for about a quartet of a League, and very deep ; 
but within, it is much broader, and navigable into the 
Country a hundred and fifty Leagues j there is but little 
Wood upon the River near the Bay, except in the Elands. 
At a hundred and fifty Leagues, Dillance is a Chain of 
high Mountains, with great Catarads, and Falls of Wa- 
ter •, but beyond thefe it is again navigable, and has a 
Communication with a River, called the River of Stags. 
Fifteen Leagues Northward of this River is the River of 
Loup Marine, or River of Seals. Betwixt thefe Rivers is 
found a kind of Ox, called the Mufk Ox, which fm ells, at 
fome time of the Year, fo llrong of Mulk that it 
cannot be .eat ; they have very fine Wool, which is 
longer than that of the Barhary Sheep : They are fmaller 
than French Oxen, with very crooked Horns which 
turn round like Rams-FIorns, and are fo long that they 
weigh fometimes fixty Pounds ; they have fhort Legs, 
and their Wool trails upon the Ground ; They are not 
numerous. 
This River comes from a Nation he calls Platfcotez de 
Chiens, who makes W^ar againll the Saw anna Indians, who 
traded with the French. In that Country they have a 
large Copper Mine fo fine, that without Smelting it they 
make Copper of it, by beating it betwixt two Stones : 
He faw a great deal of it, which their Indians got when 
they went to War againll that Nation. This Nation has 
a fweet humane Alpecl, but their Country is not good. 
They have no Beaver, but live by fiffiing, and a kind of 
Deer they call Caribous (Rain Deer) \ the Flares orow 
white in Winter, and recover their Colour in Spnng ; 
they have very large Ears, and are always black ; their 
Skins in Winter are very pretty of fine long Hair, which 
does not fall, fo that they make very fine Muffs. He 
fays he can fay nothing pofitively in going farther North- 
ward, but only, that their Savages reported that, in the 
Bottom of the Northern Bay there is a Streight, where 
they can eafily difeover Land on the other Side : They had 
never gone to the End of that Streight ; they fay there is 
Ice there all the Year, which is drove by the Wind, fome- 
times one Way fometimes another. According to all 
Appearance, this Arm of the Sea has a Communication 
with the Wellern Ocean ; and what makes it more probable 
is, that when the Winds come from the Northern Quarter, 
the Sea is difeharged by that Streight, in fuch Abundance, 
into Hudfon’ s Bay, as to raife the Water ten Feet above 
the ordinary Tides ; infomuch that when they find the 
Waters rife. Ships take Shelter againll thefe Northerly 
Winds. Ihe Savages fay, that after travelling fome 
Months to Well-fouth-weft, they came to the Sea, upon 
which they faw great Veffels with Men, who had Beards 
and Caps who gather Gold on the Shore that is at the 
Mouths of Rivers. In paffmg to the Southward from the 
Danijh River, at fixty Leagues Dillance, is the River 
Bourbon or Nelfon, in Latitude 57 Degrees. 
There is nothing remarkable in the Country betwixt 
thofe two Rivers, but a great Number of the Deer, called 
Canboux, which being drove from the Woods by a 
gieat Number of Mufehetoes or Midges, come to the 
Shore to refrelh themfelves ; they are in Herds of 10,000 
together, and fpread through a Country forty or fifty 
Leagues in extent. They might have as many of their 
Skins as they pleafed, and fome have been dreffed, 
which have been very fine. They have there all Sorts of 
v/ild Fowl, as Swans, Bullards, Geefe, Cranes, Ducks, 
and thofe of the fmaller Kind in fuch great Numbers 
that when they rife they darken the Sky, and make fo 
loud a Noife, that they can fcarce hear each other fpeak. 
Fie fays, that this may appear fabulous, but affirms, he 
fiys nothing but what he faw himfelf, for he would net 
milt to the Report ot others, but went himfelf to almoll 
every Place he mentions. The River S/. therefa, upon 
which tney built Fort Bourbon, is a Branch oi Nelfon RP 
ver, by which the Natives come down to trade. This 
^ ^ ^ River 
