No. 3.] ANDERSON — NORTH-WESTERN AMERICA. 143 



Mackenzie, along the slopes towards Hudson's Bay and the 

 Arctic Ocean. As shown in a previous note, referring to Isle a 

 la Crosse, the soil and climate along the upper portion of the 

 former stream are sufficiently favourable for agriculture ; but 

 lower down, and proceeding northward and westward, the whole 

 region is extremely desolate and inhospitable. This is occupied 

 by a portion of the great Chipewyan or Tinneh tribe, who 

 regard it as the cradle of their race, whence they claim to have 

 spread in other directions. Little description of this desolate 

 region is necessary, beyond that information which the general 

 reader will already have acquired from other sources. A few 

 stunted shrubs of the hardiest kinds — dwarf birch, willows and 

 the like — scantly clothe the more favoured spots along the water- 

 courses ; while elsewhere various lichens, the peculiar food of 

 the Rein-deer, interspersed with stones and stagnant water-pools, 

 alone characterize the dreary scene. Yet amid these unattrac- 

 tive wilds the natives obtain an abundant, if at times preca- 

 rious, subsistence, by fishing and the chase. Rein-deer (of the 

 smaller variety) are extremely numerous during the period of 

 their northern migration, commencing in March ; and the Musk- 

 Ox (Ovibos Moschatus) finds in these solitudes a congenial and 

 perennial field. On the immediate sea-frontier the Polar Bear 

 appears ; but no other of the larger quadrupeds than those enume- 

 rated I believe is found. The Beaver, common to nearly every 

 portion of North America, shuns a scene where all its industry 

 would fail to procure its living ; and it is not till the hunters 

 reach the line of about the 65th parallel that they are able to 

 procure the fur of this animal for the purposes of barter. The 

 Ptarmigan is found in abundance, as also the White Fox ; with 

 Wolves, some of which are white, and in parts the Arctic Hare 

 (Lepus variabilis'). Most of the lakes are well stocked with 

 White-fish and other kinds ; and probably Salmon,of some of the 

 numerous varieties, ascend all the larger rivers between the 

 Churchill and the Mackenzie, in neither of which do they appear. 

 A variety called the " Copper Mine River Salmon" (Salmo 

 Hearnii of Richardson) is known to ascend the river of that name ; 

 and the native name of the Back River — Thhu-e-chodezeth (or 

 tesse) — lead some to infer that that also is frequented either 

 by this or some other variety. (Thleu-e-cho, literally " big-fish," 

 employed by the Tali-cully of the upper Fraser to designate the 

 sturgeon, is on the Mackenzie applied to the salmon of the 



