CHAPTER IX 



CONTINUATION OF THE VOYAGE IN THE 

 WINNIPEG REGION 



There is a marked difference in the appearance of 

 Winnipeg and those lakes hitherto passed over and 

 described. I had expected, though I admit from ground- 

 less preconceived notions, to find it the most picturesque 

 of all the lakes ; as a matter of fact it is the least so of 

 any of them. It is a prairie lake ; that is, bare sloping 

 banks run down to the water, and often form long 

 stretching peninsulas in it. The ground is covered with 

 green, bright-lookmg grass, and in the proper season there 

 are an abundance of wild flowers ; but it is only at places 

 that there are woods near the water. The water is very 

 shallow, showing that it is an extensive hollow of the 

 prairie which is permanently flooded. There are many 

 islands of small size, some of which are occasionally 

 covered with the rising water, and on a few of which 

 there are bushes and a tree or two. Near the shore 

 there is a dense growth of reeds which harbour enormous 

 numbers of water-fowl of all kinds — swans, Q-eese, ducks, 

 widgeon and others. The length of this great lake must 

 be nearly, or perhaps quite, three hundred miles, and it is 

 generally from forty to fifty broad ; so, like the other 

 great lakes, it has the appearance of an inland sea. 

 There are plenty of fish in its waters, of the same kind as 

 those in the other lakes; and at some spots near the 

 shore the mud was black with myriads of fry on which 

 the gulls and ducks were feasting greedily. There were 

 myriads of mosquitoes also, and of small green flies which 



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