﻿1848. RANGES OF CLIFFS. 315 



that his thoughts were directed to the treasures he 

 expected to find in them; and at length he turned 

 back, af(,er pointing out the direction in which we 

 ought to go. Albert had been told not to mention 

 the place where the boats were left ; but the Eski- 

 mos could without the slightest difficulty trace up 

 the foot-marks of so large a party as ours ; and 

 I believe that by the evening, or early next day, 

 most of the party were assembled in our deserted 

 tents. 



We arrived on the banks of Kichardson's River 

 about three o'clock, but failed in finding a ford; and, 

 the walking being bad, some of the men lagged far 

 behind, which induced us to encamp early. Rich- 

 ardson's River, as well as Rae's, is flanked by lofty 

 precipices of basalt, which, coming successively into 

 view, produce striking vistas in a bleak and other- 

 wise uninteresting country. From the summit of 

 one of these eminences near our encampment I 

 obtained a wide view of the land, and saw a 

 line of clifi's running along the Rae from Cape 

 Kendall; another rank marks out the course of 

 the Richardson, from Point Mackenzie* up to the 

 junction of its two branches, where the clifi's also 

 fork ofi" at an acute angle, a series of them skirting 

 the valley of each branch. A range of clifi's, but 



* At this point the basalt is superimposed on a dark bluish- 

 grey crystalline limestone. 



