In the afternoon of the 13th, the voyagers continued their route, and with very favourable weather. They passed several places, where fires had recently been made; and beyond these, they observed a party of Indians, drawing their canoes on the beach, and endeavouring to escape into the woods. These had been so much terrified, by the appearance of the strangers, and the report of their guns, in shooting wild-geese, that they left, on the beach, several weapons and articles of dress. Mr. Mackenzie directed his men to go into the woods, in search of them, but in vain; for they had fled too rapidly to be overtaken. The voyagers had, for some time, subsisted chiefly on fish, which they had caught in their nets, and on deer and other game, which the hunters had killed. On Saturday, the 12th of September, at three o'clock in the afternoon, they again arrived at _Fort Chepewyan_; and thus concluded an arduous voyage, which, in the whole, had occupied the space of one hundred and two days. _The Western Coast of America, from California to Behring's Strait._ On the western coast of North America, and lying between the twenty-second and thirty-second degrees of latitude, is a very singular promontory, near seven hundred miles in length, called _California_. It is at present subject to Spain; and is separated from New Mexico, by the _Gulf of California_, an arm of the sea, which is navigable by vessels of the largest size. The general surface of the country is barren, rugged, overrun with hills, rocks, and sand-banks, and unfit for agriculture. But, in a few places, where the Spanish missionaries have established settlements, the lands are fertile, and singularly productive of maize, barley, and peas. The plains, in the interior, are noted for the production of rock-salt. The Indians of California are very expert in the use of the bow, and subsist chiefly by hunting and fishing. Their skin is dark, and they paint their bodies, by way of ornament: they also pierce their ears, and wear in them trinkets of various kinds. The wealthiest of them wear cloaks made of sea-otter skins, which cover the loins, and reach below their middle. Others, however, have only a piece of cloth round their waist, and a little cloak, formed of rabbit-skin, which covers their shoulders, and is tied beneath the chin. The huts of these Indians are the most miserable that can be imagined. Their form is circular; and about six feet wide and four feet high. In the construction of them, stakes, eight or ten feet long, are driven into the ground, and are brought together so as to form an arch at the top; and trusses of straw, badly arranged upon these stakes, defend the inhabitants from the wind and rain.