Sir Alexander Mackenzie, a Scottish traveller, born probably in Inverness, died in 1820. He emigrated to Canada when a young man, and obtained a situation in the counting house of Mr. Gregory, one of the partners in the northwest fur company. In 1789 he set out on an exploring expedition from Fort Chipewyan, on Lake Athabasca, where he had been stationed for about eight years, with four canoes and a party of 12 persons. For six weeks he threaded his way along the rivers and lakes of British America, till he reached the great northern ocean in lat. 69°. Having returned to Fort Chipewyan, he started in October, 1792, to explore the country toward the Pacific, reaching that ocean July 23, 1793, and regaining in safety the point of departure. He published a detailed account of these explorations, under the title of "Voyages from Montreal, on the River St. Lawrence, through the Continent of North America, to the Frozen and Pacific Oceans, in the years 1789 and 1793 " (London, 1801). He was knighted, and the river by which he had descended from Slave lake to the ocean was called after him.