This is obviously Burke Channel.

“As I could not ascertain the distance from the open sea, and
being uncertain whether we were in a bay or among inlets and channels
of islands, I confined my search to a proper place for taking an observa-
tion. We steered, therefore, along the land on the left, West-North-
West a mile and a half; then North-West one fourth of a mile, and
North three miles to an island; the land continuing to run North-
North-West, then along the island, South-South-West half a mile,
West a mile and a half, and from thence directly across to the land on
the left (where I had an altitude), South-West three miles.* From
this position a channel, of which the island we left appeared to make a

cheek, bears North by East.’
“**The Cape or Point Menzies of Vancouver.”

This paragraph is by no means easy to follow. As
Mackenzie refers later on to going “‘across to the land on
the left’’ the first course mentioned would apparently be
around Masachi Head.° Probably the next course should
be four miles instead of one-fourth of a mile. After this
we have “North three miles to an island, the land con-
tinuing to run North-North-West.” There is no sign of
an island here but the peninsula to the north of Edward
Point looks very much like one when viewed from the
opposite shore. If one accepts this peninsula as the
‘Ssland,”’ the remaining courses fit in fairly well except
that ‘‘the distance across to the land to the left’’ (Point
Edward?) is a little exaggerated—quite a likely thing to
happen in crossing this awkward piece of water in a crazy
and leaky canoe. A view of the “‘island” and of Dean
Channel, ‘‘of which it forms a cheek’ appears in the
accompanying photograph. It seems safe to assume that
we are now at Edward Point and that Mackenzie is in
error in referring to it as Point Menzies, which is obviously
far behind by this time. His next course takes him towards
Cascade Inlet, which makes Point Menzies out of the
question.

It would appear that Mackenzie had a certain amount
of difficulty in interpreting his own notes—a fact not at all
surprising when it is considered that he had no map or
chart with him when making the trip, and that several
years elapsed before he had an opportunity of plotting
them on Vancouver’s chart. It casts no aspersion on
Mackenzie’s ability if it be assumed that it is possible at

15 P_ 343, Mackenzie's Voyages. ae

16 The south-eastern point of Labouchere Channel The word, ‘*Masachi”’ is
from the Chinook jargon and means “‘bad.”

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