﻿64 LAKE WINIPEG. 



comminuted, is thrown up on the exterior bank, 

 together with some roots and stems of larger trees. 

 The first spring storm covers these with sand, and 

 in a few weeks the vigorous vegetation of a short 

 but active summer binds the whole together by a 

 network of the roots of bents and willows. Quan- 

 tities of drift-sand pass before the high winds into 

 the swamp behind, and, weighing down the flags 

 and willow branches, prepare a fit soil for suc- 

 ceeding crops. During the winter of this climate, 

 all remains fixed as the summer left it; and as the 

 next season is far advanced before the bank thaws, 

 little of it washes back into the water, but, on the 

 contrary, every gale blowing from the lake brings 

 a fresh supply of sand from the shoals which are 

 continually forming along the shore. The floods 

 raised by melting snows cut narrow channels 

 through the frozen beach, by which the ponds be- 

 hind are drained of their superfluous waters. As 

 the soil gradually acquires depth, the balsam-- 

 poplars and aspens overpower the willows, which, 

 however, continue to form a line of demarcation 

 between the lake and the encroaching forest. 



Considerable sheets of water are also cut ofl* on 

 the north-west side of the lake, where the bird's- 

 eye limestone forms the whole of the coast. Very 

 recently this corner was deeply indented by 

 narrow, branching bays, whose outer jDoints were 



