190 
VOYAGE FOR THE DISCOVERY 
1820. Hearne from the Hudson’s Bay settlements to the shores of the Polar Sea, on 
the northern coast of America, in many hundred miles of which, and particularly 
in the most interesting part, not a single observation for latitude and longi- 
tude, or the variation of the magnetic needle, was obtained, whereby his 
daily estimate could be corrected. Should, therefore, the geographical 
position assigned by Hearne to the Copper-mine River be found at all near 
the truth, more especially in longitude, it will prove an extraordinary instance 
of the tendency of errors to correct each other ; such as, I believe, does not 
often occur, when the distance gone over is so considerable, either by sea or 
land. 
Tues. 6. The wind increased to a fresh breeze from the S.S.E. with a sharp frost, 
making it very cold in the tents, which we therefore struck at four A.M., and 
at the distance of half a mile came to the summit of a hill overlooking what 
appeared to be a frozen sea before us. The distant high land beyond it to 
the north-east, now appeared a separate island, which it afterwards proved 
to be, and which I named after my friend and fellow-traveller, Captain 
Edward Sabine, of the Royal Artillery. The brow of this hill, which, from 
the best estimate I could form, appeared to be from four to five hundred feet 
above the level of the sea, was covered with large masses of sandstone, over 
which we could scarcely get the wheels of the cart. We then descended the 
hill, with the intention of pushing forward to determine whether the white 
and level space before us was the sea or not. We had not proceeded far, 
however, when the clouds began to gather heavily in the south-east, and 
shortly after snow and sleet began to fall. Being unwilling, therefore, 
to allow the men’s clothes to be wet, when there was no absolute occasion 
for it, we halted on a piece of dry ground, and, having built a wall six feet 
high to shelter us from the weather, pitched the tents very comfortably under 
the lee of it, till the weather should allow us to proceed. 
We here saw one or two flocks of geese, which, to judge from those which 
we afterwards killed, were probably brent-geese ( Anas Bernicla ), and were 
the first living animals we had met with for two or three days. We had oc- 
casionally, during that time, seen upon the snow the tracks of a solitary deer, 
but even these seemed now to have deserted a place so totally devoid of 
vegetation, that for miles together we scarcely met with a tuft of moss or a 
single poppy on which they could have fed. The tracks of foxes and mice 
were also occasionally seen, but we did not meet with any of these animals 
in this dreary and uninteresting part of our journey. 
