In North- West Canada. 



21 



CHAPTER V 



AVING spent a day and night in viewing the 

 sights of Winnipeg, the following afternoon found 

 us seated in another car, and now for the last 

 stage of our journey. Looking through the train 

 we find but feM^ of our fellow passengers of yester- 

 day. Nearly everybody stops at Winnipeg for a longer 

 or shorter time, some to remain permanently, others 

 to purchase supplies or materials for their new prairie homes. 

 Leaving Winnipeg, we strike out at once upon a broad plain, 

 as level and green as a billiard table, extending miles to the 

 north and west and bordered on the south by a line of trees 

 marking the course of the Assiniboine river. This is not yet 

 the prairie, but a great widening of the valleys of the Red 

 and Assiniboine rivers which unite at Winnipeg. The plain 

 is dotted with countless cattle, half hidden in the grass. The 

 railway stretches away before us without a curve as far as 

 the eye can reach, and the motion of the train is hardly felt as 

 we fly along. A belt of almost unoccupied land surrounds 

 Winnipeg, due to the fact that it is mostly held by specula- 

 tors, and the few scattered farms are chiefly devoted to dairy 

 products and cattle breeding. Beyond Poplar Point, farms 

 begin to appear almost continuously, and for 130 miles the 

 railway follows the course of the Assiniboine river. We are 

 on the alert for the sight of birds, which now appear to be 

 numerous. As we travel along we disturb the ducks from 

 every slough ; Franklin's gulls and black terns are in sight 

 most of the time, and sandpipers and snipe are seen on the 

 margin of every small sheet of water, 



One of our fellow passengers, who came up with- us from 

 Toronto, asks us to have a game at checkers, to pass the 

 time away, but we respectfully decline, informing him we are 

 too much interested in the country. " Why," says he, " I don't 



