[24]	The Geographic Board of Canada has adopted “Dubawnt” as the standard spelling of this lake and the river of the same name. The name is a corruption of the Indian name “Tobatna”, meaning “water shore”. (E. J. C.)

[25]

So named by Captain George Back in 1833, out of respect to the Royal Artillery, to which distinguished corps some of his crew who joined him in Montreal belonged, “and from a grateful remembrance of the deep interest manifested by its officers for the success of the expedition, and of their friendly courtesies” to himself.

CHAPTER XX.

THE BARREN LANDS, OR “ARCTIC PRAIRIE.”

Tree Growth and Timber Resources.

Phenomenal Extensions of Tree Growth Within the Barren Lands Along the Valley of Thelon river.—Black Spruce, Larch, White Spruce, Banskian Pine and Birch.—Valuable Timber Along the Thelon, About the East End of Great Slave lake and Between Great Bear lake and Coppermine river.

In his valuable report, Mr. E. A. Preble, of the United States Biological Survey, states that Coppermine, Thelon, and many of the smaller rivers of the Barren Lands are wooded to some extent on their upper portions, but by far the greater part of the area drained by them is treeless.

Mr. Preble traces the northern boundary of the great transcontinental forest from the western shore of Hudson bay to the mouth of the Mackenzie as follows:—“Starting from the mouth of Churchill river, Hudson bay, the tree-line follows the shore closely for a few miles and then curves gently inland. Thence it extends northwesterly crossing Nueltin, or Island lake, Ennadai lake on Kazan river and Boyd lake on the Dubawnt. Just north of 63 degrees on Artillery lake is the next point where we have a definite dividing line. Between the Dubawnt and Artillery lake is the valley of the upper Thelon or Ark-i-linik, along whose banks the forest extends in a narrow line far into the general treeless area. From Artillery lake the line extends northwestward to Point lake, curving toward the southwest in the interval and crossing Lake Mackay, south of latitude 64 degrees. From Point lake, whose shores are practically devoid of trees, nearly to latitude 67 degrees the banks of the Coppermine are so thinly wooded that the river may be taken as the approximate boundary of the woods. Spruces occur on the Coppermine as far north as the mouth of Kendall river, but are absent from the summit of the divide between there and Great Bear lake and reappear on lower Dease river. Between Dease river and the lower Anderson the boundary of the woods is not well known.”