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 of 

 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 underUe 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 



