DOWN THE MACKENZIE 



143 



we passed Escape Reef, the scene of Franklin's adventure with 

 the then numerous Eskimos, we entered the salt water in which 

 we first encountered ice. The floes became more abundant until 

 we found ourselves threading our way through a narrow chan- 

 nel between the ice pack and perpendicular, frozen mud cliffs 

 which rose to a height of one to two hundred feet. 



The " Glorious Fourth " was ushered in by the sun standing 

 1" and 43' above the northern horizon at midnight. South of us 

 the lofty, snow-crowned peaks of the Rockies formed a fitting 

 background to one of the most beautiful scenes that I have 

 ever witnessed. The gently rolling hills near the sea were 

 literally covered with flowers, though every ravine was filled 

 with snow. Along the beach the ice was piled in great masses 

 where it had been driven by the wind. Along the northern 

 horizon the floes were closely packed, they floated about us, 

 worn into a variety of grotesque forms by the action of the 

 waves. A faint rosy haze hung over all and suffused and soft- 

 ened the harsh details. At intervals, we passed lagoons inclosed 

 by barriers of sand strewn with driftwood. The Eskimos 

 have encamped for ages upon these beaches; the sites of even 

 their temporary summer camps were marked by cones of short 

 logs set up to keep the wood dry or out of the snow. The 

 winter settlement of Peockcha at Shingle Point was deserted, 

 though there was evidence of its having been occupied dur- 

 ing the previous winter. On the high grounds, back of these 

 abandoned camps, were oblong heaps of driftwood, erected 

 over the remains of the dead, which could not easily be interred 

 without tools for digging in the frozen earth. 



During the night of the 4th we came upon a family of white 

 foxes, close to the water's edge, and succeeded in capturing 

 two of the young. The siffleux were very abundant, their note 

 of alarm sounded continually from the cliffs above us. Water- 

 fowl were not numerous, and our fare was reduced to red- 

 throated loons and tea. A few ravens were perched about the 

 face of the black and thawing cliffs; these birds were prob- 

 ably attracted by the carcasses of stranded whales which had 

 drifted in from the whaling grounds. 



We found a party of natives at Warren Point, whose new 

 canvas wall tents were pitched within a few feet of the sea. The 

 tide rises less than two feet on that coast, and the presence of 



