Note 9 — EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION

As farther evidence that this expedition was undertaken solely for the purpose of obtaining a knowledge of the whereabouts of the copper deposits, Edward Umfreville, who was employed as a writer at York Factory in Hearne's time, makes the following interesting statement: "Some years since, the Company being informed that the Indians frequently brought fine pieces of copper to their Settlements on Churchill River, they took into consideration, and appointed a person (S. Hearne) with proper assistants, to survey and examine the river where the valuable acquisition was supposed to be concealed."—The Present State of Hudson's Bay, by Edward Umfreville, p. 45. London, 1790.