The pleasure we felt in welcoming the latter gentleman can easily
be imagined when it is considered what reason we had to apprehend that he
and his crew had been numbered with the dead. We learned that one of the
larger masses of ice had providentially drifted between the vessel's side
and the rocks just at the time he expected to strike, to which he secured
it until a breeze sprang up and enabled him to pursue his voyage.
PREPARATIONS FOR THE JOURNEY INTO THE INTERIOR.
The Governor acquainted me that he had received information from the
Committee of the Hudson's Bay Company of the equipment of the Expedition,
and that the officers would come out in their first ship. In the evening
Dr. Richardson, Mr. Hood, and I accompanied him to York Factory which we
reached after dark; it is distant from the Flats seven miles. Early next
morning the honour of a salute was conferred on the members of the
Expedition.
Having communicated to the Governor the objects of the Expedition, and
that I had been directed to consult with him and the senior servants of
the Company as to the best mode of proceeding towards the execution of
the service, I was gratified by his assurance that his instructions from
the Committee directed that every possible assistance should be given to
forward our progress, and that he should feel peculiar pleasure in
performing this part of his duty. He introduced me at once to Messrs.
Charles, Swaine, and Snodie, masters of districts who, from long
residence in the country, were perfectly acquainted with the different
modes of travelling, and the obstructions which might be anticipated. At
the desire of these gentlemen I drew up a series of questions respecting
the points on which we required information; to which two days afterwards
they had the kindness to return very explicit and satisfactory answers;
and on receiving them I requested the Governor to favour me with his
sentiments on the same subject in writing, which he delivered to me on
the following day.
Having learned that Messrs. Shaw, McTavish, and several other partners of
the North-West Company were under detention at this place we took the
earliest opportunity of visiting them; when, having presented the general
circular and other introductory letters with which I had been furnished
by their agent Mr. Simon McGillivray, we received from them the most
friendly and full assurance of the cordial endeavours of the wintering
partners of their company to promote the interests of the Expedition. The
knowledge we had now gained of the state of the violent commercial
opposition existing in the country rendered this assurance highly
gratifying; and these gentlemen added to the obligation by freely
communicating that information respecting the interior of the country
which their intelligence and long residence so fully qualified them to
give.
I deemed it expedient to issue a memorandum to the officers of the
Expedition strictly prohibiting any interference whatever in the existing
quarrels, or any that might arise, between the two Companies; and on
presenting it to the principals of both the parties they expressed their
satisfaction at the step I had taken.
The opinions of all the gentlemen were so decidedly in favour of the
route by Cumberland House and through the chain of posts to the Great
Slave Lake that I determined on pursuing it, and immediately communicated
my intention to the Governor with a request that he would furnish me with
the means of conveyance for the party as speedily as possible.
It was suggested in my instructions that we might probably procure a
schooner at this place to proceed north as far as Wager Bay; but the
vessel alluded to was lying at Moose Factory, completely out of repair;
independently of which the route directly to the northward was rendered
impracticable by the impossibility of procuring hunters and guides on the
coast.
I found that, as the Esquimaux inhabitants had left Churchill a month
previous to our arrival, no interpreter from that quarter could be
procured before their return in the following spring. The Governor
however undertook to forward to us, next season, the only one amongst
them who understood English, if he could be induced to go.
The Governor selected one of the largest of the Company's boats for our
use on the journey, and directed the carpenters to commence 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 residents have now to
send for it to a considerable 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
interruptions, together with the various collection of stones that are
hid at high-water, render the navigation of the river difficult; but
vessels of two hundred tons burden may be brought through the proper
channels as high as the Factory.
