SHORES OF THE POLAR SEA. 201 



that, by setting off immediately, sufficient 

 time would be allowed him to reach the sea 

 at the mouth of the Mackenzie, and return 

 to winter-quarters before the severity of the 

 cold should have set in. He conceived that, 

 by taking a view of the state of the Polar 

 Sea, at that season, with regard to ice, and 

 of the trending of the coast to the westward, 

 he would be enabled to form a tolerably 

 correct notion as to the probability of next 

 year's success. Accordingly, while those 

 best fitted for the purpose were left to 

 complete the construction of the houses, he, 

 with another party, set out on an expedition 

 down the Bear Lake River and the Macken- 

 zie, to the junction of the latter with the 

 sea. There is little in his progress that 

 deserves particular notice, except the fol- 

 lowing passage : — 



" A few miles above the Bear Lake River, 

 and near its mouth, the banks of the Mac- 

 kenzie contain much wood-coal, which was 

 on fire at the time we passed, as it had been 

 observed to be by Mackenzie in his voyage 

 to the sea. Its smell was very disagreea- 



