ies were collected and dried, but
while on the lower Mackenzie the expedition fed mainly on fat geese.
On the beach of the great river they found an abundance of a sweet
fragrant root which Mackenzie calls "liquorice".

Mackenzie seemed to think that along the lower Mackenzie River, near
the sea, there were not only reindeer, bears, wolverines, martens,
foxes, and hares, but a species of white buffalo or white musk ox,
which may have been the mountain goat above referred to. He noted, in
the cliffs or banks of the lower Mackenzie, pieces of "petroleum"
which bore a resemblance to yellow wax but was more friable. His
Indian guide informed him that rocks of a similar kind were scattered
about the country at the back of the Slave Lake, near where the
Chipewayans collected copper. If so, there may be a great oilfield yet
to be discovered in Arctic Canada.

On the river coming out of the Bear Lake Mackenzie discovered coal;
the whole beach was strewn with it. He was attracted towards it by
seeing smoke and noticing a strong sulphurous smell. The whole bank of
the river was on fire for a considerable distance, and he thought this
was due to the natives having camped there and set fire to the coal in
the bank from their hearths. But subsequent travellers have also found
this lignite coal burning to waste, and imagine that, being full of
gas, it catches fire spontaneously if any landslip or other accident
exposes it to moist air. In 1906 it was still burning!

According to Mackenzie, the ground in the regions about the lower
reaches of the Mackenzie River is always frozen at least five inches
down from the surface, yet he found small spruce trees growing in
patches near the delta of this river, besides pale-yellow raspberries
of an agreeable flavour, and a great variety of other plants and
herbs.

As the expedition drew near to the estuary of the great Mackenzie
River a range of lofty snowy mountains rose into sight on the west.
These mountains were said by the natives to swarm with large
bears--probably of the huge chocolate-coloured Alaska type; and again
a mention was made of "small white buffaloes", which were in all
probability the large white mountain goat (_Oreamnus_). The
Amerindians along the river greatly magnified the dangers, predicting
impassable rapids between the confluence of the Great Bear River and
the sea. But these stories were greatly exaggerated. Every now and
then the river would narrow and flow betw