44 



NORTH AMERICAN FAUNA. 



[WO. 27. 



The tributaries of Great Bear Lake are comparatively few in 

 number. Dease River, which discharges into the northeastern ex- 

 tremity of the lake, is probably the best known of its feeders. It 

 rises on the treeless height of land between Dease Bay and the lower 

 Coppermine. Several important streams enter the lake from the 

 north. Several others draining a very large extent of country to the 

 southward enter MacTavish and McVicar bays. The latter receives 

 also the waters of a chain of large lakes lying north of Marten Lake 

 (which discharges into Great Slave Lake). The country drained by 

 the southern tributaries is very rough and rocky, though fairly well 

 wooded, and is traversed in various directions by ranges of low 

 mountains. 



Bear River, which forms the outlet of Great Bear Lake, flows from 

 its western extremity, and after following a general westerly course 

 for about 90 miles, joins the Mackenzie. It is mainly confined be- 

 tween steep banks of sand or clay, is from 150 to '200 yards wide, and 

 has a current of about 6 miles an hour. About midway of its course 

 it passes through a sandstone chasm, forming a rapid nearly 3 miles 

 in length. A ridge of hills, some of whose peaks attain a height of 

 1,500 feet, crosses the river at this point. From the summit of these 

 hills the surrounding country is seen to consist of a rolling wooded 

 plain dotted with many lakes of various sizes. Below Bear River 

 Rapid the river is wide and the current less impetuous. Bear River 

 is extremely clear, and although it is joined by several muddy streams 

 its waters still present a marked contrast to those of the Mackenzie 

 at their confluence. 



The following table shows the summaries of the temperatures re- 

 corded during a full year (being for parts of 1825 and 1826), at Fort 

 Franklin, Great Bear Lake, during Franklin's second journey (Nar- 

 rative Second Expedition to Polar Sea) : 



Summaries of temperatures taken nt Fori Franklin from September, 1825, to 



lugust, 1826. 



" Assumed. Records for June lost. 



'Temperature for the lirst eighl days of July supplied from observations taken m the 

 Mackenzie. 



