Tue VoYAGE To THE ArcTIC 59

the baggage had to be carried up the shore; in
the morning a fish was found in their net
which the English Chief recognized as of a
sort common in Hudson Bay. They spent
the next day on the same spot watching the
ice and trying to eke out their food by fishing.

On the morning of the r4th Mackenzie
was awakened with the news that some large
animals were visible in the water. These he
identified as a species of white whale. “Hav-
ing ordered the canoe to be prepared, we
embarked in pursuit of them. It was, indeed,
a very wild and unreflecting enterprise, and it
was a very fortunate circumstance that we
failed in our attempt to overtake them, as a
stroke from the tail of one of these enormous
fish would have dashed the canoe to pieces.”
They put out at noon to try to get a closer
view of the ice barrier to the north, but a sud-
den wind almost swamped the canoe, and they
regained the island only with the greatest dif-
ficulty. Mackenzie seems to have realized
that they had reached the limit of their voy-
age, for he had a post erected on the island—
still known as Whale Island—‘‘on which I

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