80 Attempts to reach the Sea by Mackenzie's River . 
nacing attitude, that it was deemed prudent to return, without 
making any attempt either to land or to proceed farther. 
In 1810, a large shoal of porpoises came up to Fort Good- 
Hope, to the great grief of the natives, who declared that such 
visits were always attended by a falling off in the fishery, which 
accordingly proved very bad that season. This fact, we think, 
tends to prove the near vicinity of the sea, and that Sir Alexan- 
der Mackenzie either actually saw it, or was within a very short 
distance of it. 
The country through which Mackenzie’s River flows, appears 
to offer a fine field for naturalists, and we have had many inter- 
esting accounts of it from those who have resided there. It is 
well worthy the attention of a mineralogist, who would have an 
opportunity of viewing the operations of Nature on a grand 
scale. The Rocky Mountains range along the western side of 
the river, at a greater or smaller distance from its banks ; in 
some places receding to the distance of 70 miles, at others ap- 
proaching the very verge of the stream, and at one spot below 
the Great Bear Lake River, a continuance of the same ridge ap- 
pears on the eastern side of the river. 
A kind of sheep frequents those mountains, which, from de- 
scription, appears to resemble, or to be the same, with the Ar- 
gali , or Ovis montana. It has very large, striated, spiral horns, 
and is clothed in the winter with a thick coarse coat of hair, 
like that of the rein-deer, which falls off in the summer, and is 
succeeded by a shorter and finer covering *. There is another 
animal of still greater interest, which the traders call the Goat, 
and which would appear to be a species of antelope *f*. Its horns 
smooth, short, and black, are directed backwards, with a slight 
curvature. It is about the size of a sheep, and, in the winter, 
has a coat of long curled hair, said to be of a silky fineness and 
lustre. It springs with great agility from precipice to preci- 
pice, and possessing, like the sheep, a very quick eye, its cap- 
ture is attended with much difficulty. I have heard that the 
skins of these animals have been sent to Europe ; but neither of 
* The animal described in the text appears to be the Rocky-mountain Sheep, 
noticed by Professor Jameson in the 5th volume of this Journal, p. 138. 
-f* Specimens of the head of this animal were sent from Hudson’s Bay by 
William Auld, Esq. to Professor Jameson, and proved to be the true Argali. 
