After Passing A Few Rapids The River
Became Wider And More Navigable For Canoes, Flowing Between Banks Of
Alluvial Sand.
We encamped at ten on the western bank at its junction
with the sea.
The river is here about a mile wide but very shallow, being
barred nearly across by sandbanks which run out from the mainland on each
side to a low alluvial island that lies in the centre and forms two
channels, of these the westernmost only is navigable even for canoes, the
other being obstructed by a stony bar. The islands to seaward are high
and numerous and fill the horizon in many points of the compass; the only
open space seen from an eminence near the encampment being from North by
East to North-East by North. Towards the east the land was like a chain
of islands, the ice apparently surrounding them in a compact body,
leaving a channel between its edge and the main of about three miles. The
water in this channel was of a clear green colour and decidedly salt. Mr.
Hearne could have tasted it only at the mouth of the river, when he
pronounced it merely brackish. A rise and fall of four inches in the
water was observed. The shore is strewed with a considerable quantity of
drift timber, principally of the Populus balsamifera, but none of it of
great size. We also picked up some decayed wood far out of the reach of
the water. A few stunted willows were growing near the encampment.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 471 of 649
Words from 127210 to 127465
of 176017
