Ture Great Journey 127

the way. They went down the Parsnip to the Forks of the Peace in three days, compared with eleven spent on the ascent. On the 21st they crossed the great portage around Peace River Canyon. On the 24th:

As we rounded a point and came in view of the fort, we threw out our flag and accompanied it with a general discharge of our firearms; while the men were in such spirits and made such an active use of their paddles that we arrived before the two men whom we left here in the spring could recover their senses to an- swer us. Thus we landed at four in the after- noon at the place which we left on the ninth

of May.

They had been absent one hundred and sight days, seventy-five of which were spent on the outward trip and only thirty-three on he return. Their whole journey, except for the few miles on the Pacific, had been through -ountry never before seen by white men. On his, as on the Arctic voyage, there had een no loss of life or serious accident. The reat riddle Mackenzie had set himself was inswered; and he records at the end of his

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