120 



NOKTH AMERICAN FAUNA. 



[NO. 27. 



supported a scattering grove of white spruces. A dense smoke com- 

 ing from extensive fires to the eastward obscured our view, but during 

 the afternoon it gradually cleared away. While hunting about the 

 hills we found that we were within a short distance of the main body 

 of MacTavish Bay. The high, rocky land bordering to the north- 

 ward the channel on which we were encamped was Ndu-tcho, or 

 Richardson Island. Back of our camp, on the southern side of the 

 inlet, rose a range of rough, rocky hills, whose steep slope was a suc- 

 cession of thinly wooded rock-slides. Eastward toward the main 

 body of the lake rose a succession of sloping terraces, thinly wooded 

 and with a number of small ponds in shallow basins. Leading by 

 the easiest routes along the rocky slopes were the well-worn paths 

 of the Barren Ground caribou, whose migrating bands pass along this 

 shore in their semiannual movements. Exploring in that direction I 

 reached the extremity of a rocky headland which extended between 

 two inlets close to the lake, from which its rocky sides rose precipi- 

 tously for several hundred feet. A very deep lakelet on the summit 

 of the promontory, with no connection with Great Bear Lake save 

 its tiny outlet, which fell over the precipice at its margin, was in- 

 habited by at least one sj^ecies of fish. From the summit of this head- 

 land I overlooked the apparently boundless expanse of Great Bear 

 Lake — unbroken except by a few rocky islets near the shore. Toward 

 evening we broke camp and paddling around the point encamped 

 near the base of the promontory, where a favorable fishing place was 

 found. From camp back to the base of the steep rocks stretched a 

 sloping bowlder-covered area on which small birches and willows, 

 whose foliage was already turning yellow, were the principal trees. 



On August 28 we left camp and started westward along the shore. 

 The smoke, which had again gathered, allowed no prospect, and we 

 had to feel our way cautiously around the bays. Occasionally it 

 cleared enough for us to see that the shore was very rocky, with ir- 

 regular ranges of granite mountains rising higher and higher in the 

 background. Many ravines which cut their sides were filled with 

 slide rock and devoid of vegetation. In the afternoon we passed the 

 mouths of two deep bays bordered by high rocky hills. What ap- 

 peared to be an island turned out to be the extremity of a point about 

 5 miles in length, and we had to paddle around it. This point was 

 apparently about 2 miles broad at its base, where it was low and 

 fairly well wooded. The main part, however, was in places nearly a 

 hundred feet high, was composed of loose, angular rocks, and was 

 entirely devoid of vegetation, with the exception of a few willows 

 which grew near the shore. It was terminated by a precipitous rock, 

 perhaps 50 feet in height. Rounding the point we paddled back along 

 its dreary and monotonous shore. Our view was still obscured by 

 smoke, and we nearly reached its base before we discovered that a 



