410 Our North Land. 



plateau, which appears at one time to be completely covered by- 

 forest, comprehends the splendid countries watered by the Souris 

 River, the Assiniboine, the Little Saskatchewan, and the Qu'Appelle. 

 No words can exaggerate the prettiness and the richness of the 

 country along the line at which we crossed it. No words can convey 

 the impression produced by travelling day after day, in the most 

 delightful weather, through this magnificent land, and finding ever, 

 as we moved onward, that the fertility remained' wasted and hunger- 

 ing for the plough. From the time we entered that second steppe till 

 we struck the North Saskatchewan, a journey occupying fifteen 

 days, the general character of the country may be described as that 

 of vast rolling plains from fen to thirty miles broad, stretching as 

 far as the eye can see, and covered with rich succulent grasses, these 

 plains lying between long and broad ridges of upland from five to 

 ten miles across, running mainly north-west and south-east, and 

 dotted with clumps of copse or bush. These copse clumps and 

 glades, interspersed with pretty lakes, often look less like the work 

 of Nature, than of the landscape gardener. ... It required an 

 effort often to believe that this was ' No Man's Land.' Taking notes 

 of the country hour by hour as we journeyed on, I find the words 

 ' park-like,' ' copsy glades,' etc., occurring with almost wearisome 

 reiteration. Here for example, is what I note of the prairie near 

 Humboldt, the largest and cleanest we had yet seen, stretching 

 absolutely treeless north-west and south-east far beyond vision : — 

 It was a fine breezy day as we drove along those vast downs, roiling 

 like a lumpy sea, the colour precisely that of the Cheviots in 

 autumn, and covered with rich close-piled and flower-flushed grass. 

 As we reached a higher rising ground than usual, and looked 

 around upon the boundless plain, unbroken by rock, or tree, or 

 shrub, as smooth-shaven as a well kept lawn, the expression would 

 force itself to the lips — ' Wonderful ! ' " 



Of the third prairie steppe, Dr. McGregor says : — " At the point 

 where we struck it, the escarpment which divides it from the second 

 steppe was most sharply defined, being nothing less than the fine 

 and bold ridge of the Eagle Hills. On ascending these hills we 

 found that there was no descent on the other side, but that before 



