﻿174 ROCKY MOUNTAINS. July, 



interposes between the first and second ridges does 

 not appear to exceed five miles in width, but it was 

 seen too obliquely to enable us to form a correct 

 judgment. The river flows through this valley for 

 upwards of fifty miles, when, making a small bend 

 to the westward, it escapes across the ridge. 

 Thus far the second ridge * runs on the west bank 

 of the river, showing a bold precipitous craggy side 

 at intervals, some parts being concealed from the 

 voyager by the intervening swelling grounds which 

 form the floor of the valley. Where the river cuts it, 

 a high island of limestone stands in mid channel, and 

 on the east bank, a round-topped hill, named the 

 " Rock by the River's Side" f {Roche qui trempe a 

 reau), rises precipitously from the water's edge to 

 the height of five or six hundred feet or more. 

 The base of this hill scarcely exceeds a mile in dia- 

 meter, and most of the ridges seem to be of similar 

 breadth. From the Rock by the River's Side the 

 ridge continues, but with interruptions, onwards 

 in the same direction to the elevated promontory 

 of Great Bear Lake, named Sas-choh etha (Great 

 Bear Hill), which stands between Keith's and 

 M'Vicar's Bays. 



The other spurs, which succeed these down to 

 the delta of the river, rise in like manner like rugged 

 walls from the surrounding low, undulating country, 



* Partly seen on the right-hand side of the woodcut, p. 172. 

 f 8ee woodcut, p. 182. 



