/Dear Roger/,
Thank you for your time and trouble: I'm sure you're right - I've
had two other helpful replies, both saying the same thing, and both from
Americans (whom one might expect to be right - after all, it's their
continent!). More seriously, Tom Pinney pointed out (which I could
have, and should have, checked) that Durand, writing in 1914 with
Kipling's approval, if not actual assistance, also identified the
Barrens as the same tract of NW Canada.
Yours,
/Alastair/
On 14/12/2012 10:48, Roger Ayers wrote:
> Dear Alastair,
> I suspect that Kipling was referring to the Barren Grounds of northern
> Canada, first explored by Samuel Hearne, who wrote a book called /A
> Journey from Prince of Wales’s Fort in Hudson’s Bay to the Northern
> Ocean, in the Years 1769, 1770, 1771, & 1772/ (Strahan & Cadell,
> London, 1795). This was reprinted a number of times in the nineteenth
> and early twentieth century (see 1911 version at
> http://www.gutenberg.org/files/38404/38404-0.txt )
> Best on-line description at
> http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/54051/Barren-Grounds and
> follow link to Samuel Hearne in text.
> As the first exploration of the area and by an Englishman who had also
> set up the first Hudson Bay Trading Company post in the interior, it
> ticks all Kipling's boxes.
> Best wishes,
> Roger
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> *From:* Alastair Wilson <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
> *To:* [log in to unmask]
> <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
> *Sent:* Wednesday, December 12, 2012 10:39 PM
> *Subject:* The Song of the Dead
>
> Further to my earlier question about this poem, can any member
> tell me, in referring to the "Dead in the West" did Kipling have a
> particular area (almost certainly in the eastern foot-hills of the
> American Rockies) in mind when he referred to "The Barrens"?
> Lewis and Clark?
> /Alastair Wilson/
>
>
>
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