EMMA.  “We may now return to our station in Lancaster Sound, pass Croker’s Bay, and enter Barrow’s Straits which wash the shores of North Devon.”

GEORGE.  “In the New Archipelago, north of Barrow’s Straits, are the Georgian Isles.  They are numerous, and the principal are Cornwallis, Bathurst, and Melville.  The latter is the largest, being 240 miles long, and 100 miles in breadth.”

MR. BARRAUD.  “Here is another dreary land where no tree or shrub refreshes the eye.  The climate is too cold for any person to live there; and, from its vicinity to the magnetic meridian, the compass becomes useless, remaining in whatever position it is placed by the hand.”

EMMA.  “Prince Regent’s Inlet will lead us into Bothnia Gulf, thence through Fury and Hecla Straits,[11] which are between the peninsula of Melville and Cockburn Island, we can enter Foxes Channel, pass through Frozen Straits, and launch on the great waters of Hudson’s Bay.”

[Footnote 11:  So named because these two vessels were here frozen up from October 20th, 1822, to August 8th, 1823.]

MRS. WILTON.  “We enter Hudson’s Bay on the north, close by Southampton, a large island inhabited chiefly by Esquimaux.  Nothing can exceed the frightful aspect of the environs of this bay.  To whichsoever side we direct our view, we perceive nothing but land incapable of receiving any sort of cultivation, and precipitous rocks that rise to the very clouds, and yawn into deep ravines and narrow valleys into which the sun never penetrates, and which are rendered inaccessible by masses of ice and snow that seem never to melt.  The sea in this bay is open only from the commencement of July to the end of September, and even then the navigator very often encounters icebergs, which expose him to considerable embarrassment.  At the very time he imagines himself at a distance from these floating rocks a sudden squall, or a tide, or current, strong enough to carry away the vessel, and render it unmanageable, all at once hurries him amongst an infinite number of masses of ice, which appear to cover the whole bay.”

MR. WILTON.  “Sixty years after the intrepid navigator Hudson had first penetrated the gulf that bears his name, the British Government assigned to a company of traders to those parts (by the title of the Hudson’s Bay Company) the chartered possession of extensive tracts south, and east of Hudson’s Bay, to export the productions of the surrounding country.”

GEORGE.  “Are there any whales in Hudson’s Bay?”

MRS. WILTON.  “No, all attempts at the whale fishery have been unsuccessful:  indeed, there are very few fish of any sort here; but in the lakes around there are plenty, such as pike, sturgeon, and trout, and their banks are inhabited by aquatic birds, among which are observed several species of swans, geese, and ducks.”

EMMA.  “James’s Bay is directly in the south of Hudson’s Bay, and extends a hundred leagues within the country.  I believe it is near here that the Company’s most important establishments are situated, such as Fort Albany, Fort Moose, and the factory of East Main.  This bay contains many islands.”