La Grande Riviére en Bas ~~ 65

Ramparts. Below this constriction the land is low on both
sides of the river, with mountains in the distance whose
tops were covered with snow. The river widened and
spread in many channels among low islands, some of which
were treeless and others covered with spruce of a larger
size than any they had yet seen since leaving the first reaches
of the river near Great Slave Lake. The low banks of the
islands, standing six feet above the water, displayed a face of
solid ice intermixed with veins of black earth. As the sun
melted the ice the trees frequently fell into the water. ‘The
channels in the delta} were numerous and perplexing, but
Mackenzie selected the middle one, which ran north.

“T obtained an observation this day which gave me
67° 47’ north latitude,? which was farther than I had ex-
pected, according to the course I kept, but the difference was
owing to the variation of the compass, which was more easterly
than I imagined. From hence it was evident that these waters
emptied themselves into the Hyperborean Sea, and though
it was probable that, from the want of provision, we could
not return to Athabasca in the course of the season, I
nevertheless determined to penetrate to the discharge of
them.” :

The new guide was very much discouraged. His accounts
of what they were to expect so disheartened the hunters
that Mackenzie was convinced they would have left him
if it had been in their power. “‘I however satisfied them in
some degree by the assurance that I would proceed onward
but seven days more and, if I did not get to the sea, I would

1‘ The delta of the Mackenzie extends in a north and south direc-
tion for about 100 miles, and has a spread across the seaward side of
about 70 miles. On the west the steep fault scarp of the Richardson
Mountains rises abruptly out of the delta plain, and on the east it is
bounded by a lower rounded range known as the Reindeer Hills.”
Geol. Sur. Can. Mem. 108, p. 33.

2 Six miles below Point Separation, the head of the delta.