192 Thirty Years 
islands to seaward are high and numerous, and fill the 
horizon in many points of the compass ; the only open 
space, seen from an eminence near the encampment, 
being from N.bE, to N.E.bN. Towards the east the 
land was like a chain of islands, the ice surrounded 
the islands apparently in a compact body, leaving a 
channel between its edge and the main of about three 
miles. The water in this channel was of a clear green 
color, and decidedly salt. Mr. Hearne could have 
only tasted it at the mouth of the river, when he pro- 
nounced it to be merely brackish. A rise and fall of 
four inches in the water was observed. The shore is 
strewed with a considerable quantity of drift timber, 
which is principally of the wood of the populus bal- 
samifera, but none of it of great size. We also pick- 
ed up some decayed wood far out of the reach of the 
water. A few stunted willows were growing near the 
encampment. Some ducks, gulls, and partridges were 
seen to-day. As I had to make up despatches for 
England to be sent by Mr. Wentzel, the nets were 
set in the interim, and we were rejoiced to find that 
they produced a sufficiency of fish to supply the party. 
The fish caught were, the Copper-Mine River salmon, 
white fish, and two species of pleuronectes. We felt 
a considerable change of temperature on reaching the 
sea-coast, produced by the winds changing from the 
southward to the N.W. Our Canadian voyagers com- 
