GEOGRAPHICAL EXPLORATIONS AND DISCOVERIES IN 1871. 



337 



rence, have been during the year 1871 care- 

 fully surveyed and mapped under the direc- 

 tion of the English Admiralty. From British 

 Columbia, Hon. Matt. B. Begbie, the Chief 

 Justice of that colony, sent in February, 1871, 

 a communication to the Royal Geographical 

 Society, on the benches or terraces of the 

 Fraser and other rivers of British Columbia. 

 These terraces, which form a marked feature 

 of those rivers, are very peculiar in their regu- 

 larity and their geological structure, and afford 

 convincing proof that the whole region irri- 

 gated by the Fraser, the Columbia, and their 

 affluents, was in a former geologic period the 

 bed of a vast lake, or perhaps of an ocean, in 

 which the Rocky Mountains and Sierra Ne- 

 vada summits were islands, and that it was 

 only after ages of abrasion and erosion that 

 the waters forced their way through the 

 rocky barriers of the Coast Range, and then 

 only by successive eras of subsidence that the 

 country assumed its present form. 



The explorations mentioned in the last vol- 

 ume of the ANNUAL CYCLOPEDIA as in prog- 

 ress in Manitoba have been completed, and 

 give considerable information concerning this 

 hitherto little-known region. The name is 

 derived from that of a small island in one of 

 the large lakes northwest of Lake Superior, 

 and means, in the Indian language, " The 

 Speaking God." Along the northern shore 

 of the island runs a low cliff of sonorous lime- 

 stone, which, under the dashing of the waves, 

 gives forth a musical sound like the distant 

 ringing of church-bells. The Indians imagine 

 this to be the voice of the Great Spirit. The 

 colony of Manitoba as at present constituted 

 extends from 95 to 99 west longitude from 

 Greenwich, and from the 49th parallel of 

 north latitude to 50 30' north, comprising an 

 area of about 13,000 square miles; but it is 

 probable that its boundaries will be consider- 

 ably enlarged ere long. It includes all the 

 settlements along the Red River from Lake 

 Winnipeg to the United States line, and along 

 the Assiniboin as far as Portage la Prairie. 

 The territory embraced by the settlements of 

 Manitoba beginning ten miles south of Lake 

 Winnipeg and extending sixty miles up the 

 Red River, and an equal distance up the As- 

 siniboin is described, without much ex- 

 aggeration, as a " paradise of fertility." Many 

 of the farms have been cultivated for forty 

 years without any appreciable falling off. 

 Here, Indian-corn never fails to ripen. Melons 

 grow with the utmost luxuriance in the open 

 air, and ripen in August. Wheat ripens in 

 ninety days from the time of sowing. The 

 season opens about the middle of April, and 

 closes about the middle of November. At this 

 time the rivers, marshes, and lakes freeze, and 

 snow falls, to remain on the ground until the 

 first week in April. 



The Red River rises near the source of the 

 Mississippi, flows northward through Minne- 

 sota, and enters Manitoba near Pembina, 

 VOL. XL 22 A 



from which point to Lake Winnipeg, a dis- 

 tance of 104 miles in a direct line, its course is 

 almost due north. It has an average width 

 of about 300 feet through this part of its 

 course, and is navigable for vessels of light 

 draught. The settlements begin some ten 

 miles from Lake Winnipeg, at which point the 

 river-banks are from twenty to thirty feet high. 

 Beyond the settlements the prairie is almost 

 level, sloping slightly toward the river. 

 Though but a fraction of the great Northwest, 

 the country watered by the Red River and its 

 chief tributary the Assiniboin, and between 

 these rivers and Lake Winnipeg, exceeds Great 

 Britain in area, and also in the fertility and 

 general arableness of its soil. From the vast 

 prairies in the south to the wooded part in the 

 northeast, around and between the lakes, it 

 presents a very desirable variety of prairie and 

 woodland, and, to a great extent, that com- 

 bination of them which offers to the settler 

 the peculiar advantages of both, free from the 

 disadvantages arising from the exclusive pres- 

 ence of either. The valley of the Assiniboin 

 possesses an extensive and valuable forest of 

 oak, elm, ash, maple, poplar, and aspen ; while 

 the flats and hill-sides through which the river 

 runs above La Portage are covered with the 

 same varieties of wood. All the affluents of 

 the Assiniboin flow through deep ravines 

 which they have cut in the great plain they 

 drain, and these narrow valleys are well 

 clothed with timber. The settlement at Prai- 

 rie la Portage is delightfully situated sixty- 

 five miles west of Fort Garry. At this point 

 the prairie, which is of the richest description, 

 is boundless to the eye toward the north and 

 east. The river-bank is fringed with fine 

 groves of oak, elm, ash, and ash-leaved maple, 

 while on the south side the forest is from 

 three to six miles deep. Throughout the 

 whole territory game and fish abound in great 

 variety. Stone of various kinds fit for build- 

 ing purposes is found on Lake Winnipeg. 

 Limestone crops out along the Red River, and 

 is very abundant on the Manitoba and Win- 

 nipegoos Lakes ; sandstone and limestone occur 

 on the Assiniboin. Fish are very abundant 

 in all the rivers and lakes. Lakes Manitoba 

 and Winnipegoos literally swarm with white- 

 fish, equal in size and superior in flavor to the 

 white-fish of Lake Huron. Sturgeon, white- 

 fish, pike, dorS, and other kinds of fish are 

 found in Lake Winnipeg. The inhabitants are 

 Scotch, English, and Canadian-French, and 

 half-breeds, the children of these and Indian 

 mothers. The half-breeds are largely in the 

 majority, and are physically a fine race of 

 men, many of them very well educated in the 

 Canadian colleges. A part of them are farm- 

 ers, mechanics, and merchants, and have 

 become substantial citizens; another part, 

 though owning and cultivating lands to some 

 extent, prefer the free life of buffalo-hunters. 

 There are also some Indians. 

 2. UNITED STATES. The geographical ex- 



