A Journey From Prince of Wales's Fort in Hudson's Bay to the Northern Ocean, in the Years 1769, 1770, 1771, and 1772

by Samuel Hearne

Excerpt from A Journey From Prince of Wales's Fort in Hudson's Bay to the Northern Ocean, in the Years 1769, 1770, 1771, and 1772About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books.This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works. This text has been digitally restored from a historical edition. Some errors may persist, however we consider it worth publishing due to the work's historical value.The digital edition of all books may be viewed on our website before purchase.

Genres: Nonfiction

507 pages, Paperback

First published January 31, 1969

Reviews

[Ian]

Although this is a single book it really falls into two parts. The early chapters are a journal of the author's 3 journeys across Northern Canada. The last two chapters are made up of a description of the customs of the native peoples, (although there was also a great deal of that covered in the narrative of the journey) and a description of the flora and fauna of Northern Canada. This last takes up about a third of the book and I must admit I skimmed over it. Doubtless the descriptions of subarctic wildlife were interesting to Mr Hearne's 18th century readers, but times have moved on. It was sobering though, to read his statistics of the annual slaughter of wildlife, both by the Europeans and by the native peoples, newly equipped with firearms.

Hearne was an employee of the Hudson's Bay Company and was sent by them to identify the source of copper sometimes brought to the Company by native peoples as trade goods. He travelled in the company of guides from what he termed the Northern Indians, in the years 1769-1772. I understand these guides were from the nation now known as Denesuline or Chipewyan. At the time these northern nations had only limited contact with Europeans, and it is Hearne's observations of their way of life that make this account really worthwhile.

Hearne was a man of his time. He seems to have been quite unable to see things from the indigenous people's point of view, and he has a tendency to take the least attractive characteristics of individuals and apply them to whole ethnic groups, but he nevertheless has some fascinating descriptions of native life - such as ways of hunting and fishing, dances, marriage customs, and ways of making war. In particular his eyewitness description of events is vivid. Probably Hearne is most well-known for his description of the "Bloody Falls Massacre" when his companions, and others from allied groups of Dene, surprised an encampment of Inuit, killing about 20. The brutality of this event traumatised the author.

This and other events recounted in Mr Hearne's book do not always make pleasant reading, but the author was someone who experienced the reality of having to survive within this harsh environment.

[David Boag]

Interesting as a reference, but not a light read.