264 



SECOND VOYAGE FOR THE DISCOVERY 



fj*" signal was made to prepare to anchor ; and in the mean time I left the ship 

 in a boat to examine the soundings of the coast. On approaching the open- 

 ing we found so strong a current setting out of it, as to induce me to taste 

 the water which proved scarcely brackish, and a little closer in perfectly 

 fresh, though the depth was from fourteen to fifteen fathoms. As this stream 

 was a sufficient security against any ice coming in, I determined to anchor 

 the ships somewhere in its neighbourhood ; and having laid down a buoy in 

 twelve fathoms, off the north point of the entrance, returned on board, when 

 I found all the boats a-head endeavouring to tow the ships in-shore. This 

 could be effected, however, only by getting them across the stream of the 

 inlet to the northern shore ; and here finding some land-ice, the ships were 

 secured late at night, after several hours of extreme labour to the people in 

 the boats. 



• 13. On the morning of the 13th, the ice being still close in with the land just 

 to the northward of us, I determined on examining the supposed river in the 

 boats, and at the same time to try our luck with the seines, as the place 

 appeared a likely one for salmon. Accompanied by several of the officers, 

 therefore, as well as by Captain Lyon in his own boat, I left the Fury at half- 

 past eight A.M., and was soon followed by a second boat from each ship. 

 Immediately on opening the inlet we encountered a rapid current setting- 

 outwards, and after rowing a mile and a half to the N.W.b.W., the breadth 

 of the stream varying from one-third of a mile to four or five hundred yards, 

 came to some shoal water extending quite across. Landing on the south 

 shore and hauling the boats up above high-water mark, we rambled up 

 the banks of the stream, which are low next the water, but rise almost 

 immediately to the height of about two hundred feet. As we proceeded we 

 gradually heard the noise of a fall of water; and being presently obliged to 

 strike more inland, as the bank became more precipitous, soon obtained a 

 fresh view of the stream running on a much higher level than before, and 

 dashing with great impetuosity down two small cataracts. Just below this, 

 however, where the river turns almost at a right angle, we perceived a much 

 greater spray, as well as a louder sound ; and having walked a short distance 

 down the bank, suddenly came upon the principal fall, of whose magnificence 

 I am at a loss to give any adequate description. At the head of the fall, or 

 where it commences its principal descent, the river is contracted to about one 

 hundred and fifty feet in breadth, the channel being hollowed out through a 

 solid rock of gneiss. After falling about fifteen feet at an angle of 30° with a 



