51 [ 237 ] 



appendix B. This region, by its natural resources, would admit of nu- 

 nieroHS setilements. Accordingly, some have been attempted by the traders, 

 but were abandoned in consequence of the hostile spirit of the Indians, 

 who know, by experience, that the bufflilocs abandon their usual licks so 

 soon as settlements are made upon them. 



Having thus accomplished the main object of our expedition, we re- 

 turned along the plateaux on the left side of the Skuyen-BJu, 

 ^heNonh*^ making a reconnoissance of the ridge on which the streams 

 that empty into the Red river of the North take their origin. 

 Thus we were brought to cross the Shayenoju a second lime, and again to 

 ascend the Coteau des Prairies; but as our returning route is traced upon 

 the map, and a sufficiently detailed account of the Coteau has been given 

 elsewhere, I will close this portion of my narrative with an account of 

 what appeared to me ul the time the most mterestiHg incidents in our back- 

 ward journeys from Miniwakan lake. 



duitting, then, the borders of Devil's lake, our direction was somewhat 

 to the east of south. During the first three miles we had to cross hills sep- 

 arated by large and deep coulees, (more commonly called by tite voyae-eurs 

 " 6amie/e5,") at this time perfectly dry, but through which it is very prob- 

 able the surplus waters of the lake, during or after a rainy season, dis- 

 charge themselves into the k^hayen-oju, as previously suggested. 



At the foot of the eastern hills just alluded to, we reached the western 

 border of u fine lake, called by the Sioux Wamduskamde, (lake of the 

 Serpents;) which I suppose to be the same that the half-breeds of the Red 

 river have named " Lac des Cliicots." This lake is in the sliape of a horse- 

 shoe, the two farthest extremities of whicli are seven miles apart, afid its 

 circumference from fifteen to sixteen miles, with an average breadth of one 

 mile. It is also a salt lake, discharging its surplus waters through coulees, 

 into the Shayenojn. Its borders are in some parts wooded. But in its 

 neighborhood we found a small fresh-water lake, on the banks of which we 

 pitched our encampment. 



Having made our usual morning observations, we took up our march the 

 next day^ leaving the IShayen oju to our right, at a distance varying from 

 four to six miles, according as us bends approach or recede from us. The 

 surrounding country is undulating, and in some places gullied, especially 

 on the approach to some tributary. The river on that side has three tribu- 

 tary forks, the banks of which are destitute of trees, so that v/e could al- 

 ways guide ourselves by the course of the Shayen, rendered conspicuous 

 by the dense green foliage of its shores. 



We were aware that to the east of the route we were pursuing lay the 

 great basin of the Red river of the North, but at an unknown distance. Its 

 lower portion had been visited by the expedition under M;ijor Long; its 

 rivers described, and their confluence laid down. I had myself placed on 

 my map of the region about the sources of the Mississippi, after my visit to 

 this region in 1836, the sources of those streams which empty into it from 

 the left side, as the maps extant erroneously derive them from Devil's lake. 

 My barometrical levellings soon convinced me that we were not far from 

 the most elevated part of the plateau, to the east, where the true dividing- 

 ridge between the waters that empty into the Shayeti-ojn on one side, and 

 the Red river on the other, is to be found. The sameness in the physical 

 character of the highlands also indicated that they were only a continua- 



