Tue Great JourNnry 121

them of Vancouver’s visit, and tried to barter
an otter skin: “When I offered them what
they did not choose to accept for the otter-
skin, they shook their heads and very dis-
tinctly answered ‘No, no.’ And to mark their
refusal of anything we asked from them, they
emphatically employed the same British mon-
osyllable.” They left in peace; and the party
made a scanty meal, for provisions were almost
exhausted, and, after posting guards, retired
for the night. The rock was the furthest
limit of their voyage. The scene on it the
following morning has been described at the
beginning of this narrative. All traces of
Mackenzie’s famous inscription have long
since vanished, but the exact location of the
rock, even the very spot on which the inscrip-
tion was painted, has recently been deter-
mined.

Fortunately the weather was clear, and
Mackenzie was able to make a series of obser-
vations of the sun, both from the rock and
from a point further up the inlet to which
they moved. He had managed also to observe
the eclipse of Jupiter’s satellites, and was able