We now discovered that the Rocky Mountains do not form a continuous chain, but that they run in detached ranges at unequal distances from the coast. The Richardson chain commencing opposite the mouth of the Mackenzie, terminates within view of our present situation. Another range, which I have named in honour of Professor Buckland, begins on the western side of Phillips Bay, and extending to the boundary of our view, is terminated by the Conybeare Mountain.
It gave me great pleasure to affix the name of my friend Mr. Babbage to the river we had discovered, and that of Mr. Phillips, Professor of Painting at the Royal Academy, to the bay into which its waters are emptied. We learned from the Esquimaux that this river, which they call Cook-Keaktok, or Rocky River, descends from a very distant part of the interior, though they are unacquainted with its course beyond the mountains. It appeared to us to flow between the Cupola and Barn mountains of the Richardson chain. There are many banks of gravel near its mouth, but above these obstructions the channel appeared deep, and to be about two miles broad. There were no rocks _in sitû_, or large stones, near the encampment; the rolled pebbles on the beach were sandstone of red and light brown colours, greenstone, and slaty limestone. We gathered a fine specimen of tertiary pitch-coal.
Augustus returned in the evening with a young Esquimaux and his wife, the only residents at the house he had visited. They had now quite recovered the panic into which they had been thrown on our first appearance, which was heightened by their being unable to escape from us owing to the want of a canoe. We made them happy by purchasing the fish they brought, and giving them a few presents; they continued to skip and laugh as long as they staid. The man informed us that judging from the rapid decay of the ice in the few preceding days, we might soon expect it to break from the land, so as to allow of our reaching Herschel Island, which was in view; but he represented the coast to the westward of the island as being low, and so generally beset with ice, that he was of opinion we should have great difficulty in getting along. This couple had been left here to collect fish for the use of their companions, who were to rejoin them for the purpose of killing whales, as soon as the ice should break up; and they told us the black whales would soon come after its rupture took place. It would be interesting to ascertain where the whales retire in the winter, as they require to inhale the air frequently. Those of the white kind make their appearance when there are but small spaces of open water; and we afterwards saw two black whales in a similar situation. One might almost infer from these circumstances that they do not remove very far. Is it probable that they go, at the close of the autumn, to a warmer climate? or can the sea be less closely covered with ice in the high northern latitudes? The situation of our encampment was observed to be, latitude 69 degrees 19 minutes N.; longitude 138 degrees 10-1/2 minutes W.; variation 46 degrees 16 minutes E.; and a rise and fall of nine inches in the water. The wind blew from the west during the night, and drove much ice near the boats; but as the masses took ground a little way from the shore, we were spared the trouble of removing the boats higher up the beach.