the Coppermine River and Peel’s River, which issues from the Rocky
Mountains, in latitude 67°. Immediately after the junction of Peel’s
River the Mackenzie separates into numerous branches, which flow to
the sea through a great delta, composed of alluvial mud. Here from
the richness of the soil, and from the river bursting its icy chains,
comparatively very early in the season, and irrigating the low delta
with the warmer waters brought from countries ten or twelve degrees
further to the southward, trees flourish, and a more luxuriant vegetation
exists than in any place in the same parallel on the American
continent. In latitude 68° there are many groves of handsome white
spruce firs, and in latitude 69°, on the shores of the sea, lofty and dense
willow-thickets cover the flat islands ; while currants and gooseberries
grow on the drier hummocks, accompanied by some showy epilobiums
and perennial lupins. The moose-deer, American hare, and beaver,
accompany this display of vegetation to its limits. The whole course
of the Mackenzie from the source of the Elk River to the sea, is about
two. thousand miles in length.
These are the principal rivers of the fur countries, but there are
three others of shorter course, upon which some part of the collections
of specimens were obtained, viz. Hayes River, which rises near Lake
Winipeg, and holding an almost parallel course to Nelson’s River, falls
into the same part of Hudson’s Bay. York Factory, which will be
often mentioned in the following pages, stands on the low alluvial
point that separates the mouths of these two rivers. The next river
which I have to mention is the Missinippi, or, as it is occasionally
named, the English River, which falls into Hudson’s Bay at Churchill.
Its upper stream, named the Beaver River, rises in a small ridge of
hills, which separates the north branch of the Saskatchewan from a
bend of the Elk River. The Coppermine is the last river which
requires a particular notice. I t has its origin not far from the east
end of Great Slave Lake, and, taking a northerly course, flows through
the Barren-grounds to the Arctic Sea. I t is a stream of no great
magnitude in comparison with some of the branches of the Mackenzie :
there are few alluvial deposits on its banks, and there is not, consequently,
that richness of vegetation, which on the Mackenzie attracts
certain quadrupeds to very high latitudes.
The Rocky Mountains have been crossed in four several places.
First, by Sir Alexander Mackenzie, in the year 1793, at the head of the
Peace River, between latitudes 55° and 56°. His route was followed,
in 1806, by a party of the North-west Company, sent to make a settlement
in New Caledonia, and is still occasionally used by the Hudson’s
Bay Company. Lewis and Clark, in the year 1805, crossed the
Mountains in latitude 47°, at the head of the Missouri, in their way to
the mouth of the Columbia River. For several years subsequent to
that period, the North-west Company were in the habit of crossing in
latitude 52$°, at the head of the North branch of the Saskatchewan,
between which and one of the feeding streams of the Columbia there
is a short portage ; but of late years, owing to the hostility of the
Indians, that route has been deserted, and the Hudson’s Bay Company,
who now have the whole of the Fur Trade of that country, use a
portage of considerable length between the northern branch of the
Columbia and the Red Deer River, one of the branches of the Elk or
Mackenzie River. Some attempts have very recently been made
to effect a passage in the 62nd parallel of latitude ; but although
several ridges of the mountains were crossed, it does not appear that
any stream flowing towards the Pacific was reached.
The whole of the country lying to the eastward of the Rocky
Mountains, and north of the Missouri and Great Lakes, is settled,
©r more or less frequently visited by the Hudson Bay Company’s
traders, and is well known to them, with the exception of the vicinity
of the Polar Sea, and a corner bounded to the westward by the Coppermine
River, Great Slave, Athapescow, Wollaston, and Deer Lakes,
to the southward by the Churchill or Missinippi River, and to the
northward and eastward by the sea. This north-eastern corner of the
American continent is often mentioned in the following pages by the
appellation of the Êarren-grounds, which it has obtained from the
traders on account of its being destitute of wood, except on the banks
of some of the larger rivers that traverse it. The prevailing rocks in