Earuy Lire 8

he traces an inscription on it with this impro-
vised paint. At last, his purpose fulfilled, he
consents to allay the fears of his followers, and
boards the laden canoe. It is swiftly pro-
pelled by the paddles of the voyageurs up the
inlet in the direction from which it had come.
The party vanishes, leaving only the red
memorial on the rock behind. It is the brief
record of a great achievement. This is how it
runs: “Alexander Mackenzie, from Canada,
by land, the twenty-second of July, one thousand
seven hundred and ninety-three.”’ For the first
time white men had crossed the continent of
North America north of Mexico. Thousands
of miles of river and lake and mountain-trail
lay behind the dauntless leader and his little
band. Alexander Mackenzie had earned his
place among the great explorers of history.
The scene on that July day was the sum-
mit of his career, though he has other titles to
fame. Of his early years little is known. He
was born of a good, though poor, Highland
family in the Scottish town of Stornoway in
the Island of Lewis, the largest of the Heb-
rides. The exact date of his birth is uncertain,