Country of the Copper Eskimos ' 27 



signs of Eskimo settlements, of which the most remarkable were large sandstone 

 slabs laid on edge to form rude rectangular shelters for the hunters. Tracks of 

 caribou were numerous in this place. The ' Mackenzie river ' is really a series 

 of creeks that issue from a system of swamps, ponds, and lakes a little way inland. 

 Except on a small basalt island at the mouth of this ' river,' where I found meat 

 caches made from boulders, there were no signs of Eskimo encampments either 

 at the mouth or up inland along the ' river.* A short-cut portage across the base 

 of Ross point is known to the locaLEskimos, and I also used it to great advantage. 

 From Lady Franklin point to Wellbank bay, the coast is almost entirely void of 

 driftwood." 



Such then is the character of the Copper Eskimo country in so far as we 

 were acquainted with it. Those portions of the mainland and of Victoria island 

 which we did not visit will probably be found to differ in no important respect 

 from the regions already described. 



