312 Our North Land. 



covered with a growth of timber, may, for the sake of simplicity of 

 description, be considered the Woodland Region. 



" I shall first consider the Prairie Region. If we place before us 

 an orographical map of North America, it will be noticed that a 

 great continental plain stretches north and south between the Gulf 

 of Mexico and the Arctic Ocean. It is bounded on the western side 

 throughout its whole extent by the Rocky Mountain zone, and on 

 the eastern side in part by a less elevated region, the Appalachian 

 zone. This great plain occupies the whole of the continent of North 

 America between the western and eastern mountain ranges. It is 

 divided by its river systems into three perfectly distinct drainage 

 basins. One drains to the south into the Gulf of Mexico, another 

 north into sub- Arctic waters, and the third east into the Atlantic 

 by the channel of the great river St. Lawrence. 



" Of these three basins, that of the St. Lawrence is by far the 

 smallest, and the northern is fully as large as the other two together. 

 The St. Lawrence basin, on the boundary between the United States 

 and Canada, occupies part of both countries ; the southern basin is 

 almost wholly in the United States ; the northern basin is almost 

 wholly in Canada ; and the line of contact between the two latter 

 basins is in part approximately coincident with the 49th parallel of 

 latitude — the southern limit of the interior of Canada. It will thus 

 be seen that the great continental plain of North America is divided 

 naturally, as well' as artificially, through the centre. It is divided 

 politically into two adjacent countries, under distinct governments, 

 and naturally into three vast drainage basins, the smallest of which 

 occupies a comparatively narrow strip along the eastern portion of 

 the International Boundary Line, while the other two discharge their 

 waters in diametrically opposite directions. 



" The Prairie Region of Canada lies in the northern drainage 

 basin ; it may be considered to extend from south to north more 

 than a thousand miles, and nearly the same distance from east to 

 west. It is not all a treeless prairie ; a considerable portion is thinly 

 wooded ; yet the whole is considered as more or less partaking of a 

 prairie character. The Prairie Region, so called, is somewhat tri- 

 angular in form. One side coincides with the International Bound- 



