Srr ALEXANDER MACKENZIE

These are contrasted by spots where fire has
destroyed the woods, and left a dreary void
behind it. . . . From this elevated situation,
I beheld my people, diminished, as it were, to
half their size, employed in pitching their
tents in a charming meadow, and among the
canoes, which, being turned on their sides,
presented their reddened bottoms in contrast
with the surrounding verdure.

His heart may well have been uplifted by
what he saw, for in the huge unknown country
before him he was to achieve greatness, and
he stood on the threshold of his kingdom. The
immense river system, the waters of which he
first beheld on that October day in 1787, was
to be explored by him from end to end within
six years, and ever since it has been known by
his name.

Yet his first experience of the Athabaska
department was not fortunate. Delayed on
the way up, his canoes were checked by ice
before reaching Portage La Loche. Two he
had to send back, and when the three others
and their contents had been carried across the
portage he found it impossible to proceed.
Finally he was able to get away himself in a