﻿98 SNAKE KIVER. June 



arrive at Isle a la Crosse. The aspect of the 

 country changes suddenly on entering these lakes. 

 The rising grounds have a more even outline, and 

 one long low range rises over another, as the 

 country recedes from the borders of the water, 

 where it is generally low and swampy. The trees 

 near the water are almost exclusively birch and 

 balsam-poplar, or aspen ; the spruce tirs occupy- 

 ing the distant elevations, which are generally 

 long round- backed hills, with a few short conical 

 bluffs. Serpent Lake is named from the occur- 

 rence on its shores of a small snake.* I was not 

 able to learn that this or any other snake had been 

 detected further to the north. Having passed a 

 high sand-bank on the north side of Serpent Lake, 

 six miles further on, we entered the Snake Kiver, 

 within the mouth of which there is a bank of loam, 

 sand, and rolled stones, thirty-five feet high. The 

 bed of the stream is lined with these stones, and 

 its width is about equal to that of Rainy River. 

 The rocky points, as seen from the canoe, appeared 

 to be of granite. All the boulders that I examined 

 were of a dull brownish-red, striped or laminated 

 granite, which, on a cursory inspection, might be 

 mistaken for sandstone. Boulders of the same kind 

 occur at the Snake Rapid, where they are inter- 

 mixed with a few pieces of hornblende rock. 



* Coluber or Tropidinotus sirtalis. 



