DOWN THE MACKENZIE 



J 39 



and with such power that the snows were melted to a high 

 altitude on the Rock}' Mountains, along whose eastern base we 

 were traveling. 



The whole country had been flooded a few days before, at the 

 time of the breaking up of the ice that still remained in consid- 

 erable quantities of black and dripping blocks along the banks. 

 It was difficult to find enough brush to keep our blankets out 

 of the mud which had been deposited b)' the receding waters. 

 The hares in the Delta had been drowned during the overflow, 

 and we frequently saw their dead bodies suspended among the 

 willows. 



As we continued next day the waterfowl became more abun- 

 dant in the ponds which covered the interior of the islands. 

 All through the cooler part of the day, or night, when the sun 

 hung low in the north, the melodious call of the long-tailed 

 duck, Clangula hyemalis (Linn.), (known to Eskimos by the 

 name a-hau-1'in, and to the whites by another onomatope — 

 caccawe) could be heard. I never tired of hearing the note of 

 this duck, which rang out with such wild, mirth-provoking 

 freedom, in contrast with the hideous scream of the loon, Colym- 

 bus pacificus Lawr. 



The Count assured me that the area covered by water ex- 

 ceeded the timbered portion of the Delta in extent, as viewed 

 by him from the summit of the Black Mountain, just east of 

 which we were passing. Moose and bear tracks were frequently 

 seen. Lieutenant Pullen, who entered the mouth of the Mac- 

 kenzie on the 27th of August, 1850, reported "tracks of bears, 

 moose and reindeer frequent." On the morning of the third 

 day a wolverine was wounded but escaped. We killed geese, 

 ducks, and muskrats and, with the flour which I had brought, 

 we were well provisioned. At 7 p. m., as we were quietly pad- 

 dling around a long bend, with a low muddy shore, we caught 

 sight of a large grizzly bear walking down stream by the water's 

 edge. As I was the only member of the party who had a rifle, 

 I hastened to draw it from its case and to push forward to get 

 a shot at close range. The bear, without seeing us, entered 

 the stream with the evident intention of swimming across. "Be 

 careful," said the Indians, " he is a wicked beast. If you kill 

 him, you must grab him or he will sink." I was within fifty 

 yards of the animal before he discovered our presence. He 



