130 CONSERVATION OF CANADIAN WILD LIFE 
Rivers, almost to the shores of Great Slave Lake, and cov- 
ers as large an area as the southern range if not larger. 
The southern range extends from Peace River northward 
to latitude 60° N., between longitudes 112° and 113°, and 
covers an area of about 2,000 square miles. The two 
ranges are separated by a belt of muskeg country 30 to 40 
miles wide, with a slightly settled area, adjoining the Salt 
River mission on the west. This tract of country prevents 
migration from one range to the other, except by way of the 
Salt Plain. In each range there are said to be about 1,000 
head of buffalo, though these numbers must be taken as 
being approximate, particularly with reference to the north- 
ern range, as, so far as known, no white man has trav- 
ersed it. | 
Little is known of the northern range, which is much 
more inaccessible than the southern, although some idea ot 
its general character was obtained by the journey inland 
from the south shore of Great Slave Lake into the northern 
border of the range. The timber, soil, and topography 
were found to be very similar to those of the southern range. 
The southern range is a flat or gently undulating plain, 
lying at an elevation of about 800 feet above sea-level. On 
the south its surface is only about 60 feet above the level 
of Peace River, and on the north it drops sharply away to 
an escarpment 150 to 200 feet high, down to the broad, 
level plain of the Slave River; ridges of sand, or boulders of 
limestone, which are rarely as much as 100 feet high, con- 
stitute the only irregularities of its surface, which is, how- 
ever, frequently pitted by immense sink-holes, due to the 
solution of the beds of gypsum which underlie the surface 
of the greater part of the range. There are very few lakes, 
and several of them contain water too alkaline to drink. 
Muskegs, which are not very numerous or of great extent, 
occur on the range. There are very few streams, the 
greater part of the drainage being apparently underground. 
The whole range is more or less timbered, interspersed 
