North-West Continent of America. 39 



river, which here becomes narrower, flows between high 

 rocks ; and a meandering coarse took us North- West four 

 miles. At this spot the banks became low ; indeed, from 

 the first rapid, the country does not wear a mountainous 

 appearance ; but the banks of the river are- generally lofty, 

 in some places perfectly naked, and in others well covered 

 with small trees, such as the fir and the birch.. We con- 

 tinued our last course for two miles, with mountains before 

 us, whose tops were covered with snow. 



The land is low on both sides of the river, except these 

 mountains, whose base is distant about ten miles : here the 

 river widens, and runs through various channels, formed 

 by islands, some of which are without a tree, and little 

 more than banks of mud and sand ; while others are co- 

 vered with a kind of spruce fir, and trees of a larger size 

 than we had seen for the last ten days. Their banks, which 

 are about six feet above the surface of the water, display a 

 face of solid ice, intermixed with veins of black earth, and 

 as the heat of the sun melts the ice, the trees frequently 

 fall into the river. 



So various were the channels of the river at this time, 

 that we were at a loss which to take. Our guide preferred 

 the Easternmost, on account of the Esquimaux, but I de- 

 termined to take the middle channel, as it appeared to be 

 a larger body of water, and running North and South : 

 besides, as there was a greater chance of seeing them. I 

 concluded, that we could always go to the Eastward, 

 whenever we might prefer it. Our course was now West 

 by North six miles, North-West by West, the snowy 

 mountains being West by South from us, and stretching 

 to the Northward as far as we could see. According 

 to the information of the Indians, they are part of the 

 chain of mountains which we approached on the third of 

 this month. I obtained an observation this dav that gave 

 me 67. 47. North latitude, which was farther North than I 

 expected, according to the course I kept ; but the differ- 

 ence was owing to the variation of the compass, which was 

 more Easterly than I imagined. From hence it was evi- 

 dent that these waters emptied themselves into the Hyper- 

 borean Sea ; and though it was probable that, from the 

 want of provision, we could not return to Athabasca in the 

 course of the season, I. nevertheless determined to pene- 

 trate to the discharge of them. 



