64 THE FUR COUNTRY, direction. After consulting his map, which merely gave a rough outline of the configuration of the country, it seemed best to him to descend the valley of the Coppermine, a large river which flows into Coronation Gulf. The distance between Fort Confidence and the mouth of this river is only a degree and a half — that is to say, about eighty-five or ninety miles. The deep hollow formed by the gulf is bounded on the north by Cape Krusenstein, and from it the coast juts out towards the north-west, ending in Cape Bathurst, which is above the seventieth parallel. The Lieutenant, therefore, now changed the route he had hitherto followed, directing his course to the east, so as to reach the river in a few hours. In the afternoon of the next day, June 3d, the river was gained. It was now free from ice, and its clear and rapid waters flowed through a vast valley, intersected by numerous but easily fordable streams. The sledges advanced pretty rapidly, and as they went along, Hobson gave his companion som^ account of the country through which they were passing. A sincere friendship, founded on mutual esteem, had sprung up between these two. Mrs Paulina Bamett was an earnest student with a special gift for discovery, and was therefore always glad to converse with travellers and explorers. Hobson, who knew his beloved North America by heart, was able to answer all her inquiries fully. " About ninety years ago," he said, " the territory through which the Coppermine flows was unknown, and we are indebted for its discovery to the agents of the Hudson's Bay Company. But as always happens in scientific matters, in seeking one thing, another was found. Columbus was trying to find Asia, and discovered America." " And what were the agents of the Hudson's Bay Company seeking % The famous North- West Passage '? " " No, madam," replied the young Lieutenant. " A century ago the Comi)any had no interest in the opening of a new route, which would have been more valuable to its rivals than to it. It is even said that in 1741 a certain Christopher Middleton, sent to explore these latitudes, was publicly charged with receiving a bribe of X0OO from the Company to say that there was not, ami could not be, a sea passage between the oceans."
