He Followed The Course Of This River Till He Arrived At
What He Conceived To Be The Frozen Ocean, Were He Saw Some Small Whales
Among The Ice, And Determined The Rise And Fall Of The Tide.
This river was
called after him, Mackenzie's River, and to the island he gave the name of
Whale Island.
This island is in latitude 69 deg. 14'.
In 1793 Mr. M'Kenzie again set out on an inland voyage of geographical and
commercial discovery, taking with him the requisite astronomical
instruments and a chronometer. His course he directed to the west. After
travelling one hundred miles on foot, he and his companions embarked on a
river, running westward, which conveyed them to an inlet of the Pacific
Ocean. Here he observed the rise and fall of the tide, and saw porpoises
and sea otters. The claim of the discovery of the Frozen Ocean by a
north-west route, to which Mr. M'Kenzie lays claim, has been questioned, as
well as Mr. Hearne's claim. It has been remarked, that he might have
ascertained beyond a doubt whether he had actually reached the sea, by
simply dipping his finger into the water, and ascertaining whether it was
salt or not. The account he gives of the rise of the tides at the mouth of
Mackenzie River serves also to render it very doubtful whether he had
reached the ocean; this rise he does not estimate greater than sixteen or
eighteen inches. On the whole, we may conclude, that if Mr. Hearne actually
traced the Coppermine River to its entrance into the sea, or Mr. M'Kenzie
the river that bears his name, they have not been sufficiently explicit in
their proofs that such was really the case.
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