120 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [March 



found an open margin, very fertile and covered with an abundance 

 of good grass. He did not mean by this ^^ beaver hay," bait a 

 very superior kind of grass, which was found by experience to 

 be very valuable as fodder for cattle and horses. The country is 

 very free from rocks, and at one place they could not find stones 

 large enough to sink the lower edge of their net. There is 

 evidence in the Nipigon country, as well as in the Thunder Bay 

 region, that the ^forests have been frequently swept by fires in 

 past times, and the Indians told him that these fires often origi- 

 nated from lightning. It was likely that prairies were formed 

 in this way. He believed there was a tradition among the 

 Indians that the prairies once extended eastward as far as Lake 

 Nipigon, but all the country east of the Lake of the Woods has 

 since been overgrown with forest. They sometimes left the stores 

 and struck away into the woods and generally found the country 

 level. Although the soil was good the trees were small, and 

 stood so far apart that the party could carry their canoe without 

 underbrushing a road anywhere. After having prosecuted their 

 survey for seven weeks, they arrived at the Nipigon House, a 

 Hudson Bay post, on the north-west shore of the Lake. This 

 was one of the three posts maintained by the Company on the lake 

 shore. The Nipigon House is surrounded with a farm and 

 garden, which have been cultivated for about 100 years. 

 During the early part of the present century the station was 

 called Fort Duncan, and then, as now, it supplied the neighbour- 

 ing country. The appearence of the field and garden crops indi- 

 cated that the soil was well suited for agricultural purposes. The 

 latitude of that part of the country was about the same as at 

 the mouth of the St. Lawrence — between 49 "^ and 50 ^ north 

 latitude, but it was well known that in that part of the country 

 the isothermal lines bend to the North- West. The survey revealed 

 the encouraging fact that we have an easy route for the construc- 

 tion of a railway to the North West. — Gazette. 



American Association for the Advancement of 

 Science. — The next meeting will be held at Troy, (N. Y.), 

 on the 17th August next. Members desiring the usual facili- 

 ties for travel, &c., will obtain the required information on 

 application to II. B. Nason, Esq., Correspondent Secretary, 

 Troy, N. Y. 



