28 Canadian Record of Science. 



4. The two former families, did they now exist, would 

 supply connecting links between the Coniferee and Cycadeas, 

 and between the latter and the Acrogens. 



On an Expedition down the Begh-ula or 

 Andeeson Eivee. 



By Me. E. MacFaklaxb, Chief Factor, Hudson Bay Company. 

 Introductory. 



In 1857, Mr. MacFarlane carried out an exploratory 

 expedition from Fort Good Hope on the Mackenzie Eiver, 

 to the Anderson Eiver, and down that river, returning by a 

 different route to Fort Good Hope. A report on this ex- 

 pedition was made by him to the late Mr. James Anderson, 

 then in charge of Mackenzie Eiver district, for the Hudson 

 Bay Company. This report was not written for publication, 

 but a copy of it was handed to me about a year ago by Mr. 

 J. Anderson, son of the late Chief Factor. As the report 

 contained much information respecting a region of which 

 scarcely anything is known, I applied to Mr. MacFarlane for 

 his permission to have it printed. This permission Mr. Mac- 

 Farlane kindly accorded, and the narrative is here given as 

 written by him in the year of the exploration, with the 

 omission merely of some portions of the original, bearing 

 upon the fur trade and business of the Company. 



Mr. MacFarlane's services to science in the extreme 

 northern portions of the continent are well known, and his 

 report of his journey to the Anderson Eiver, gives further 

 evidences of close and accurate observation, which would be 

 creditable as the result of an expedition undertaken for 

 scientific purposes, instead of primarily in the interests of 

 the fur trade. 



The region traversed lies to the east of the Mackenzie 

 and to the north of Great Bear Lake, within the Arctic circle. 

 A short notice of the Anderson or Begh-ula river is to be 

 found in Sir J. Eichardson's Journal of a Boat Voyage (Vol. 

 I., p. 265), and a brief description of the country in its 



