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118 Str ALEXANDER MACKENZIE

to the sea in the morning. Two of the natives
refused to accompany them further. “At
about eight we got out of the river, which dis-
charges itself by various channels into an arm
of the sea. The tide was out, and had left a
large space covered with sea-weed. The sur-
rounding hills were involved in fog.” They
saw a number of what they thought were sea-
otters, but were really seals. They had
reached the head of Bentinck North Arm,
about three-fifths of the way from Vancouver
to Prince Rupert up the coast of British
Columbia. They were still far from the open
ocean, for the shore is cut by narrow inlets
which run inland for as much as a hundred
miles. Mackenzie’s object in going further
was to find “a proper place for taking an
observation,” a spot from which there was a
view, preferably to the south, for some miles
across open water. He was also very anxious
to get a clear sight of the moon and stars, so
as to be able to determine his longitude by
calculating Greenwich time. At two a high
swell forced them to land for the night in a
cove on the north shore of the bay; here their