182 



The company's boats having arrived about the 20th of 

 August, I left this place for Carlton House. On arriving at 

 that post, Sept. 1st, the Indians were found to be in so 

 unsettled a state, that it would have been very unsafe to make 

 excursions in that neighbourhood, without the protection of 

 a strong party ; and I therefore decided upon proceeding 

 with the brigade, until I should find a place better suited to 

 my purpose. In ascending the river, the banks became 

 gradually more elevated, seldom, however, precipitous, but 

 rising gradually with broken undulating ground, sometimes 

 for the space of a mile, before reaching the level of the sur- 

 rounding country, which, at the junction of the south branch, 

 may be estimated at from 150 to 200 feet above the bed of 

 the river. This place may be considered as the commence- 

 ment of those extensive plains which reach from hence to the 

 Rocky Mountains, a distance of at least 700 or 800 miles, 

 and, according to Indian information, are prolonged as far 

 south as Mexico. The district is appropriately named by 

 the Canadian Voyageurs, la grande Prairie, The woods 

 which partially cover the country immediately contiguous to 

 Carlton House, disappear at a distance of about 20 miles to 

 the westward. The soil is generally sandy, and the vegetation 

 becomes of a diiferent and peculiar aspect, the tribe of Papi- 

 lionacece prevailing to a considerable degree, and the genera 

 Plilox, Liatris, Malva, and Ej'iogonum. Here I first observed 

 a Psoralea^ nearly allied to P. esculenta of Pursh, its roots, 

 like that species, affording to the poor natives, in times of 

 scarcity, a miserable substitute for animal food. The roots 

 somewhat resemble those of the Dahlia^ and the Indians are 

 very expert at digging them up with a forked stick, which 

 they use in the manner of a lever. They sometimes also eat 

 the roots of a species of Hedysarum, the plant probably 

 mentioned by Sir Alexander M'Kenzie under the appellation 

 of Liquorice. Two or three kinds of UmbellifercB and As- 

 ■clepiadecB, which 1 found nowhere else in my route, grew in 

 this neighbourhood, also 5 or 6 species oi Phascum* 



* A genus of Mosses scarcely knowa hitherto as natives of America. 



