﻿1848. ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 173 



river, he observes that the eastern faces of the 

 ridges rise abruptly like a wall, while their western 

 flanks are more shelving. This is not, however, 

 uniformly the case, as in some of the ridges lofty 

 escarpments occur also on their western sides. 



The height of the almost precipitous cliff of the 

 first mountain at the bend of the river appeared 

 to the eye, from a distance of seven or eight miles, 

 to be eight or nine hundred feet, though the 

 width of the base of the hill did not exceed a 

 mile. Further back, the summit of the rid^e 

 terminated by this mountain was judged to be 

 between two thousand and two thousand eight 

 hundred feet high. The heights here mentioned 

 were estimated solely by the eye, and as in this 

 climate heights and distances are very deceptive 

 they must be considered as very rough approxima- 

 tions. No trees could be detected on the summits 

 when examined with the telescope, but the lower 

 hills, and the slopes to the height of a thousand 

 feet, were well wooded. 



The first range re-appears on the east side of the 

 river, and is seen at intervals running in the direc- 

 tion of M'Vicar's Bay of Great Bear Lake, whose 

 basin interposes between its termination and the 

 granite and gneiss that skirt the eastern arms of 

 that lake. 



At the bend of the Mackenzie, the valley which 



