342 DISCOVERIES OF 1789. 



to return to Denmark. The two little vessels 

 were so much damaged by the ice and the storms 

 they met with, that they were every moment in 

 danger of sinking * 



ALEXANDER MACKENZIE. 1789- 



With the view of reaching the shores of the 

 hyperborean sea, Mr. Alexander Mackenzie, 

 accompanied by a party of Canadians and some 

 Indians, one of which had been with Ilearne, set 

 out from Fort Chepewyan, on the south side of 

 the Lake of the Hills, on the 3d June, 1789- 

 On reaching the Slave Lake they found much ice, 

 but were able to proceed, partly by land and 

 partly by crossing the bays of the lake; they then 

 descended the Mackenzie River, passed several 

 tribes of Indians, and arrived finally at that which 

 is called Deguthee Dinees or the Quarrellers, 

 beino' the last inhabitants of Indians to the north- 

 ward, and immediately bordering on the Esqui- 

 maux. From these Indians he learned that the 

 distance over land, on the east side, to the sea, was 

 not long, and to the westward still sh.ortcr ; the 

 intermediate land through which the river flowed 

 projecting to a point into the sea. The banks of 

 the river were now low, and displayed, on the 1 0th 

 July, a face of solid ice, intermixed with veins of 

 black earth; yet trees of spruce were growing 



* From Admiral Lowenorn's MS. Journal. 



