108 



NORTH AMERICAN FAUNA. 



[NO. 27. 



of the eastern bank of the defile, lies back of the post beyond the val- 

 ley of a small stream in whose bed, as late as midsummer day, large 

 masses of ice still remained. To the north stand several rounded hills 

 100 or 200 feet high; otherwise the country is rolling and rather 

 swampy. At the time of my visit the open areas were bright with the 

 beautiful flowers of Rhododendron lapponicum^ Dryas integrifolia 

 (see PI. XXY, fig. 1), Lupinus arcticus^ and many less showy plants, 

 about which flitted several species of Arctic butterflies. 



Below Fort Good Hope the Mackenzie again resumes its general 

 northwesterly course and is bordered mainly by high clay banks. 

 Three miles down, Hareskin River, at its mouth a broad, dark- 

 watered stream, is passed, and in the next IT miles Lower Manito;i 

 and several other large islands are passed. At the end of this stretch 

 Loon River, a good-sized stream which drains several large lakes, 

 is passed on the right. For the next 100 miles the river follows the 

 same general course, is very broad, and contains many islands. A 

 range of low mountains is seen to the w^estw^ard midway of this 

 stretch. 



In about latitude 67° 30' the Mackenzie turns at right angles to 

 the course it has been following, and for about 60 miles flows a little 

 south of west. It is here bordered on the north by high banks of 

 yellowish clay, much furrowed by rivulets. On these banks ground 

 squirrels first became common, having appeared about 60 miles 

 below Fort Good Hope. The site of old Fort Good Hope, before 

 referred to, is on the left or southern bank just below where the 

 river changes its course. When we traveled this stretch late in June 

 the sun of course was continually above the horizon, though some- 

 times it was hid from sight for several hours by the high northern 

 banks, and we traveled as inclination or the weather prompted us. 



At the end of this westward- trending stretch the river resumes 

 its northwesterly course. It here averages narrower than in the 

 few hundred miles preceding, and its valley continues deep. Half- 

 way to the delta it makes an oxbow turn through a rock-bordered 

 defile called the ' Lower Ramparts.' Its walls are less precipitous 

 than those of the upper Ramparts and the channel is less contracted. 

 On emerging from this caliyon, the post of Arctic Red River, at the 

 mouth of the stream of that name, is seen on the left. 



Arctic Red River is a small post of the Hudson's Bay Company, 

 and is also the seat of a Roman Catholic mission which was estab- 

 lished thirty or forty years ago, being first located on the opposite 

 bank of the Mackenzie a few miles below. The trading post has 

 been established only a few years. 



From the mouth of Arctic Red River the Mackenzie flows north- 

 ward for 20 miles to the head of the delta. The banks rapidly 

 lower and are soon composed entirely of alluvium. Exposed sec- 



