( 77 } 
Art. XII. — Notice of the Attempts to reach the Sea by Mac - 
henzie's River , since the Expedition of Sir Alexander Mac- 
kenzie. 
*1 HE 4th Volume of the Memoirs of the Wernerian Natural 
History Society, lately published, contains a series of interesting 
papers, on zoology, botany, mineralogy, geology, meteorology , 
and hydrography. The activity of this association is highly cre- 
ditable to the Edinburgh School of Natural History ; and the 
perfect freedom of discussion displayed in all its memoirs, from 
the first establishment of the Society to the present moment, de- 
monstrates the right feeling which actuates those naturalists, 
who, by their learning, zeal and activity, have procured for it 
so distinguished a rank in the scientific world. The notice here 
reprinted *, we are confident will be read with interest by our 
readers, and the more particularly at this moment, when the 
public attention is powerfully attracted towards the northern re- 
gions of the earth, by the expected appearance of the Journals 
of Captain Franklin and Dr Richardson. 
The North-West Company first established a fur-post on the 
banks of Mackenzie’s River in the year 1795, and have ever 
since maintained a greater or smaller number of establishments 
on various parts of its course. At present, the lowest or most 
northerly post is Fort Good- Hope, situate about 100 or 120 
miles below the influx of Great Bear-Island Lake River, and, 
as is supposed, about three days’ voyage in a light canoe from 
the sea, which, with the current of such a river, is usually esti- 
mated at from 50 to 80 miles per day. From the summit of a 
small hill behind the Fort, the upper limb of the sun is just vi- 
sible at midnight, on the 21st of June. 
In the immediate vicinity of Fort Good-Hope, and on the 
east side of the river, the Hare Indians reside ; and their lands, 
to the northward of the very extensive piece of water which is 
named Great Bear-Island Lake, and which is said to be infe- 
rior in size to Lake Superior alone, borders upon the Eskimaux 
* Read before the Wernerian Society, 17th November 1821, and inserted in the 
4th volume of its Memoirs, recently published. 
