98 



NOETH AMERICAN FAUNA. 



[NO. 27. 



From Stone Island, if the weather be fair, a traverse of abont 14 

 miles may be made nearly directly nortliAvard to the nearest islands of 

 the extensive Simpson group. They may be barely disceriKMl from the 

 summit of the island, but are invisible from the water level. The 

 more exposed of these islands are much Avind SAvept and their vegeta- 

 ble covering reminds one of the extreme edge of the timber. The 

 spruce and tamarack trees are more or less stunted, and A^arious 

 heathy shrubs, Avith cinquefoils, saxifrages, and A^arious grasses, 

 form the principal flora (see PI. IX, fig. 1). They constitute 

 breeding stations for seA^eral species of gulls, terns, loons, and 

 the parasitic jaeger. Another shorter tra Averse leads to other islands, 

 whence the Gros Cape, on the eastern side of the mouth of the North- 

 ern Arm, is attained, and the crossing, ahvays attended Avith some 

 difficulty, is accomplished. A safer but longer crossing is made by 

 following the southern shore of the lake several miles to the eastward 

 of Stone Island and then making a traverse of about 8 miles to the 

 nearest islands. Thence the canoe track Avinds through an intricate 

 maze of beautiful channels to the Gros Cape. 



On these islands are found man}^ small ponds and swamps, in 

 Avhich, as well as about the Ioav shores of the Northern Arm, groAv 

 many interesting plants. Conspicuous among these may be noted 

 the bog-bean {Menyanthes trifoliata) ^ parnassia {Pctrnassia folus- 

 tris) ^ Avater arum {Ccdla palust7'is) , and many sedges and grasses. 

 In a small pond on one of the Simpson Islands I found a colony of the 

 small AAdiite Avater lily {Castalia tetragona) ^ Avhich has been detected 

 at but fcAv stations in America. On the drier parts of many of these 

 islands occur numerous other species, the genera Potcntilla and Saxi- 

 frctga being represented by several species. C ri/ptog)'amma acrosti- 

 choides and Dryopteris fragrans are abundant ferns. 



From the Gros Cape the eastern shore of the Northern Arm 

 is followed nortliAvard. The shores and islands are A^ery rocky, and 

 at first are high, often precipitous, but soon loAver to the nortliAvard. 



About 40 miles above the mouth of the Northern Arm, Yellowknife 

 RiA^er empties into a bay about 4 miles broad and seA^eral miles long. 

 On tha eastern shore, just south of this bay, stand seA^eral log houses. 

 Not far from here is the site of old Fort Providence, a nortliAvest 

 ])ost in 1820, when Franklin ascended YelloAvknife Kiver on his Avay 

 to the Coppermine.^ 



® Id 1789, when Alexander Mackenzie was on liis way to the Arctic Ocean, 

 Mr. Le Roux, his assistant, met a party of • YellOAAiaiife Indians near this point, 

 where also he had traded with them during the previous season. While Mac- 

 kenzie was exploring the great river, Le Roux made a trip to Great ^larten 

 Lake, where not long afterwards the Northwest Company established a post. 

 Fort Providence evidently was built soon after this time. I have been unable 

 to ascertain when it was abandoned. 



