60 Sir ALEXANDER MACKENZIE

engraved the latitude of the place, my own
name, the number of persons which I had
with me, and the time we remained there.”
On that same day, July 14, 1789, in far-off
Paris an angry mob sacked the ancient
prison-fortress of the Bastille and began the
great French Revolution.

They remained one more day on Whale
Island, and once more the tide wetted their
baggage. Mackenzie was very anxious to
meet some Eskimos so as to learn more of the
country. His guide told him that one of their
favourite haunts was the mouth of a small
river flowing into the east side of the delta.
“We accordingly made for the river, and
stemmed the current.” This is the only indi-
cation Mackenzie gives that he had turned
upstream and that the voyage of discovery
was over. It has, indeed, been debated
whether Mackenzie was aware at the time
that he had reached the ocean. There is no
definite statement in his journal, but a careful
study of it seems to show that he knew where
he was. One must remember that he was dis-
appointed in any case, for it was the wrong