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swollen on my return, that I was compelled to remain for 

 days a prisoner on the other side^ to the great liindrance of 

 my plans, and injury of the plants collected. This difficulty 

 could not be avoided but by having two or three men and a 

 skin canoe. Many of the plants that grow here are very 

 local, apparently often confined to one particular mountain 

 or valley, and I am quite confident that if any one could 

 penetrate farther into the interior than it was in my power to 

 do, they would be amply repaid for the fatigue thereby 

 incurred. It might be easily managed by carrying a suf- 

 ficient quantity of Pemmicany made previously, or obtained 

 from the flesh of the animals that occur here, and thus 

 reaching the Height of Land before the melting of the snow. 

 As an instance of the exclusive locality of some plants, I may 

 'mention what I observed in a small plain, surrounded by 

 mountains, and situated about 30 miles west from Lac-la- 

 Pierre, and called by the hunters the Wolf Plain. Here I 

 gathered Claytonia lanceolata^ Ammme patens^ a large species 

 of Valeriana^ Spergula saginoidesy Veronica officinalis^ Ciner- 

 aria ? Tussilago frigida^ Lupinus perenniSy and new species 

 of the genera Ranunculus^ Caltha^ Trollius^ Potentilla^ &c. &c. ; 

 most of these were in the greatest abundance, and scarcely 

 observed anywhere else during my route. Splachnum urceo- 

 latum and sphcericum also grew there, and Nephroma pdlaris. 

 Among the mosses which I saw in the vicinity of Jasper's 

 House, were Phascum cuspidatum^ Gymnostomum Heimiiy 

 Weissia latifolia, Systyliwn splachmides, Tayloria splash- 

 noides^ &c. 



The effects of the miusually cold winter were now ob- 

 servable in the excessive emaciation of the animals, which 

 ^ere reduced to skin and bone. All vegetation was ex- 

 tremely backward, and according to the assertion of the old 

 Canadian, who had been resident for many years among the 

 I^ocky Mountains, the waters were higher than they had 

 been for twenty years. To conclude, the mosquitoes were 

 also dreadfully numerous, owing to the almost continual rain; 

 for in dry' weather, when the atmosphere is clear and fi-osty 

 ^t night, these insects are much diminished in quantity. We 



