The new governor was a man of unquestioned ability; but his jealous and suspicious temperament made him work at cross purposes with the governor of Churchill, and brought him into frequent conflict with Tomison at Cumberland House. He had never caught the spirit of the aggressive policy initiated by Samuel Hearne, and preferred to develop the fur trade with the Indians who came down to the coast for trade, rather than to follow them to their hunting grounds. In his reports to the directors in London, he endeavoured to excuse his lack of enterprise by hurling vague accusations at his colleagues; while his subordinates, men like Thompson and Malcolm Ross, were irritated and provoked by the lack of support from headquarters which constantly frustrated their efforts to push forward the work of exploring the more remote interior. The seven years of David's apprenticeship were now at an end, and he was engaged at a good salary as trader and surveyor to the Company. He was not yet, however, given an opportunity of practising his profession. The previous spring, an ice-jam at the mouth of the Hayes river had caused the water to rise, flooding the low land on which the factory was situated; and for a year or more, Thompson had to assist Colen in moving the fort to its present site on a high clay bank about a quarter mile further up stream. Meanwhile Philip Turnor had returned from a journey to Lake Athabaska, and the report of his explorations had reached the directors in London. Proceeding from Cumberland House, he had worked his way north through Amisk and Pelican lakes to Frog Portage, a distance of one hundred miles. After crossing the portage, he found himself in the basin of the upper Churchill river. This stream he ascended as far as Isle à la Crosse, and thence he made his way through Buffalo lake and Lake la Roche to the Methy Portage. This portage marks the divide between the waters that flow eastward to Hudson Bay and those that discharge through the Mackenzie into the Arctic ocean. Crossing the portage, he descended the Clearwater river to its junction with the Athabaska, whose broad stream soon carried him to the lake of that name. This was the regular route followed by the Indians of the far north in their journeys to Hudson Bay.