THE RED RIVEH EXPEDITION. 327 



flanking defence to the place. The Assinaboine 

 River flows at about a hundred yards from its 

 southern side. Like the Red River, its banks are 

 steep, and of very sticky clay, the Fort being about 

 forty feet above the water's level. Looking east 

 over the Red River, one sees the Roman Catholic 

 cathedral, with its monastery, convent, and bishop's 

 palace, all well-built and neatly-kept buildings. Close 

 to them are some miserably squalid cabins belonging 

 to French half-breeds, whose houses generally are 

 vastly inferior in every respect to those of British 

 origin. The eastern horizon is formed of trees, chiefly 

 poplar and aspen ; for although the regular wooded 

 country is not reached for about thirty miles west of 

 Red River, still there are numerous belts of wood in- 

 tersecting the prairie in that direction. Looking up 

 that river towards the south, the eye wanders over 

 a series of wretchedly-tilled farms, with their houses 

 and barns situated upon both banks, and interspersed 

 here and there with patches of poplar, dwarf oak, 

 willow, and underbrush. The banks of the Assina- 

 boine are skirted by woods of a similar description, 

 having occasional clearances for the squalid houses 

 of the French half-breeds, who occupy the adjoining 

 farms. Looking north, the whitewashed buildings 

 constituting the village of Winnipeg, and the farm- 

 houses of well-to-do English-speaking people, give an 

 air of prosperity to the landscape : in the distance is 

 the square tower of the badly-built English cathedral, 



