189 
NORTH POL E. 
weather would admit of it, and by keeping good fires of 
wood, and when burnt by flopping up the chimney, they 
appear to have fuffered very little from the effects of cold ; 
and we hear of none of tliofe wailings with which James’s 
doleful narrative is filled, at a place, too, full five leagues 
farther to the fouthward on the fame coaft. Mr. Ellis ob- 
ferves, that the difference was fo great between the cold 
without and the heated huts within, that perfons, on en¬ 
tering the latter, frequently fainted, and remained appa¬ 
rently lifelel's for fome time; that, if a door or window 
was but opened, the cold air ruflied in with great fury, 
and turned the vapour, inclofed within the hut, into a 
fnow-fhower. The alternate freezing and thawing of the 
juices of the logs cabled them to fpiit with a noile little 
inferior to the report of a mufket. Spirits of wine did 
not freeze into ice, but became of the confiftence of oil. 
The different kinds of game, which they procured be¬ 
tween November and April, kepteafily in a frozen flate 
for any length of time, without the ufe of fait. When 
any part of the human body was frozen, it became hard 
and white like ice; but, by rubbing the part with a warm 
hand, it went off in a blifter ; if left alone, the part mor¬ 
tified. Extreme cold appeared to have pretty nearly the 
fame effedl as extreme heat, and required nearly the fame 
treatment: of the abfolute degree of cold, Mr. Ellis can¬ 
not fpeak, as they took out but one thermometer, which 
was broken before they reached the ice. It is noted, in 
manufeript, in the margin of the copy of Mr. Eliis’s book 
from which this abllrabl is taken, “ that the greateft de¬ 
gree of cold obferved (by the writer) at Churchill was 45 0 
below the cipher of Fahrenheit’s feale.” The effedts of 
the cold are fufficiently remarkable. “ If we touch iron,” 
fays Mr. Ellis,“or any other fmooth folid furface, in the 
winter, our fingers are froze faft to it; if, in drinking a 
dram of brandy out of a glafs, one’s tongue or lips touch 
it, in pulling it away the fkin is left upon it. An odd 
infcance of this fort happened to one of our people, who 
was carrying a bottle of fpirits, from the boule to his 
tent; for, not having a cork to flop the bottle, he made 
ufe of his finger, which was foon froze faff, by which ac¬ 
cident he loll a part of it to make a cure pradlicable. All 
folid bodies, as glafs, iron, ice, and fuch like, acquire a 
degree of cold lo very intenfe, that they refift the cffedls 
even of a itrong heat, and that too for a good while.” 
Yet, with all this, the inhabitants, according to Mr. Ellis, 
are neither uncomfortable nor unhappy ; nay, he afferts, 
that Europeans even, who have lived here for fome years, 
prefer it to all other places; and that, when they leave it 
and come home with their Ihips, they ufually grow tired, 
in a few months, of a more moderate climate, and wilh 
with impatience for the proper feafon that may give them 
an opportunity of re-vifiting thefe frozen regions. 
It was the 2d of June before the winter finally took 
leave of them, and enabled them to get the veffels ready 
for dropping down to the mouth of the river; and it was 
not till the 24th that they fucceeded in palling the fhoals; 
they then Hood to the northward for the purpofe of dif- 
covery. To the northward of Churchill they had a lea 
clear of ice. In coaliing along the lliore and among 
iflands, Mr. Ellis obferves, that the needles of the com- 
paffes loll their magnetical qualities ; “ one feeming to 
adt from this direction, and another under that, and yet 
they were not for any conliderable fpace of time coullant 
to any.” 
They proceeded to the northward as far as 65. 5. in the 
Welcome, where they found the flood-tide coming from 
the northward. This diredlion of the tide, and their near- 
nefs to Wager Strait, concerning which there had been 
fo warm a difpute between Mr. Dobbs and Capt. Middle- 
ton, determined the two captains of the Dobbs and Cali¬ 
fornia to enter upon an examination of it. The entrance 
of this inlet is formed by Cape Montague on the north, 
and Cape Dobbs on the fouth. About live leagues within 
it, the width is contradled to about five miles, where the 
tide ruIhes with fo much impetuofity, that Mr. Ellis fays 
Vou XVII. No. it 70. 
it feems like a fluice ; beyond this it again opens out, and 
forms leveral good harbours and fate anchoring-ground. 
At one hundred and fifty miles from the entrance, the 
colour of the water was found to be perfedlly bright, and 
its tafte very fait. At this place a fall or rapid extended 
acrofs theilrait, which, however, the boats palled without 
difficulty, and found the depth beyond it increale fo much 
that they had no bottom with 140 fathoms of line. The 
water at the furface was frelh ; but, on finking an empty 
bottle to the depth of thirty fathoms, it came up full of 
water as fait as that in the Atlant ic. Soon after this the 
water fuddenly Ihoaled, and it was difeovered that the 
inlet terminated in two unnavigable rivers, one of which 
proceeded from a large lake lying to the fouth-wellward. 
Being difappointed in not findinga palfage through Wa¬ 
ger Strait, forfo it wasfuppofed to be, it was propoled that 
they lliould examine another opening to the northward, 
which appears to have been Capt. Middleton’s frozenftruit , 
or entrance into what is now known as Repulfe Bay. They 
had fufficient encouragement to make this attempt, as, the 
farther they advanced to the northward along this coall, the 
more flattering were the prol'pedls of a palfage communi¬ 
cating with a great ocean, as the tides.were always higher 
and the time of high water fooner than to the Ibuthvvard ; 
and Mr. Ellis lays, “ the faltnefsand tranl'parency of the 
water in the Welcome was fuch, that one might lee the 
bottom at the depth of twelve or fourteen fathoms;” to 
which he adds, “ the numbers of whales that were conti¬ 
nually feen upon the coaft, and the repeated inllances we 
had that north-well winds made abundantly the higheft 
tides.” A difference of opinion however prevailed be¬ 
tween the commanders and among the officers, as to the 
propriety of proceeding to the examination of this bay, 
confidently with their inftrudtions; and moll of the party 
were evidently indifpofed towards any further refearch, 
urging the advanced feafon of the year, though it was 
only the 7th of Auguft, and the winter feldom lets in till 
the beginning or middle of Odtober. After this nothing 
was done nor even attempted ; and, a council being held, 
it was determined to bear up without further delay for 
England, which was accordingly put in execution 5 and 
on the 29th of Auguft they reached the wellern entrance 
of Hudfon’s Strait, with very pleafant warm weather, 
which laded till the 3d of September; and, after Hopping 
fojne time at the Orkneys, arrived fafely in Yarmouth 
Roads on the 14th of Oblober, after an abl'ence of one 
year, four months, and feve.nteen days. 
“ Thus,” fays Mr. Ellis, “ ended a voyage of very great 
expedition, not only here, but throughout the greateft 
part of Europe, more efpecially the maritime countries, 
where the delign, its nature, confequences, and their 
great importance, were bed underftood. Thus, I fay, 
ended this voyage ; without fuccels indeed, but not with¬ 
out effebl; for, though we did not difeover a north-weft 
palfage, yet were we fo far from difeovering the impofli- 
bility or even improbability of it, that, on the contrary’, 
we returned with clearer and fuller proofs, founded on 
the only evidence that ought to take place in an inquiry 
of this nature, plain fadls and accurate experiments, that 
evidently Ihew luch a palfage there may be.” A Voyage to 
Hudfon s Bay ; by Henry Ellis. 
The unfatisfadtory rel'ult of the voyage of the Dobbs 
and California would appear to have thrown a damp on 
the ardour of northern difeovery, which the parliamen¬ 
tary reward, liberal as it was, failed to revive; and for 
nearly thirty } r ears no attempt whatever was made by fea, 
either on the part of government or of individuals. At 
length, however, the Hudfon’s-Bay Company undertook 
to make difeoveries to the northward by land, partly to 
look for a large river, on which was faid to he the cop¬ 
per-mine fo often mentioned, and partly to obtain correbl 
geographical information ; and Mr. Hearne was pitched 
upon to condudl this expedition. He let out from the 
Fort Prince of Wales on the 6th of November, 1769, 
eroded the Seal River, and travelled over the barren 
3 C grounds i 
