Page:Narrative of the Discoveries on the North Coast of America.djvu/201

 out in the bay, became almost unmanageable. From these circumstances, and its relative position to Return Reef, it is evident that this is the opening described to Augustus, Sir John Franklin's interpreter, by his countrymen in 1826, and of which Franklin himself remarks, "I am inclined to think that it is the estuary of a large river, flowing to the west of the Rocky Mountains, obstructed by sandbanks, like the mouth of the Mackenzie." This is another proof of the accurate information to be obtained from the Esquimaux; and we could only regret that we were precluded, by the want of an interpreter, from acquiring some knowledge of the internal communication between Harrison Bay and Cook's Inlet, which the Colvile probably affords.

The party with whom we spent some time in Camden Bay were in possession of iron kettles, which they said they procured from the westward for two skins of the wolverene or glutton. Captain Beechey's officers saw only copper kettles beyond Point Barrow, where the trade is probably conducted in a different manner. The Colvile separates the Franklin and Pelly Mountains, the last seen by us; and probably flows in a long course through a rich fur country, and unknown tribes, on the west side of the grand Rocky Mountain chain, the melting of whose