86 Str ALEXANDER MACKENZIE

snow-covered line of the Rocky Mountains
appeared in view; on the day before they had
seen “two grisly and hideous bears” —their
first encounter with grizzlies.

On the 19th they reached a point above
which the Indians had said that they never
attempted to go by canoe, making a long
portage instead. Mackenzie decided, how-
ever, to stick to the river as long as he could.
They were at the foot of Peace River Canyon,
where the stream cuts a tumultuous path
between steep precipices around the base of
an isolated rocky hill, descending two hundred
and seventy feet, nearly twice the height of
Niagara Falls, in a distance of twenty-two
miles. No one has ever tried to run the rapids
of the canyon, and lived; they are now avoided
by a portage from Hudson’s Hope around the
hill. Unwittingly Mackenzie, in going up the
stream, Was attempting to overcome an im-
passable obstacle. His men made some prog-
ress that day by towing and poling; once the
canoe was broken, and its contents soaked;
then it was dragged up a furious rapid with
the men in continual danger of being crushed