242 ON THE ETHNOGRAPHY AND PHILOLOGY OF THE 
In most places where the country is thickly timbered, the ground underneath is covered 
with moss and bushes, but with little or no grass. It is only in such places and for that 
reason that the soil sustains any damage from the burning of the prairies. The moss 
forming the sod being reduced to a cinder by the fire, the roots are destroyed, and several 
years must elapse before another coat of green adorns it; which, like the preceding, is 
destined to be burned when the fire passes in that direction. ‘The vegetation of the 
prairie, however, receives no such damage; being deeply rooted the stalk only burns, and 
the heat is swept away by the winds; the roots retain their life; and soon after another 
crop springs up more lively and thick than the former, owing to the surface being cleared, 
by the fires, of the decayed vegetation. The large timber, however, suffers greatly on 
these occasions. Vast forests are thus completely destroyed, and centuries will be required 
to replace them. 
The burning of the prairies is not a custom resorted to by the Indians to facilitate 
hunting, as is generally supposed. Nothing offends them more, and their laws among 
themselves are very severe in this matter, as it effectually destroys their hunting by driving 
away all game, and renders the country unfit for pasturage during the winter when burnt 
late in the fall. These fires originate, for the most part, in the carelessness of hunters 
and travellers, by the malice of individuals, or passing war parties of other nations. Some- 
times these fires are very destructive, and sweep over districts hundreds of miles in extent ; 
on other occasions they are extinguished by rains, snow, or the wind blowing in the 
contrary direction. A few years ago a large party of half-breeds camped near a frozen 
swamp and let their horses loose among the tall grass. ‘Their camp fires by some accident 
communicated with the grass, and the wind being very strong, all their horses, to the 
number of two hundred or more, were surrounded by the flames and destroyed. 
The climate may be considered variable, not in regard to heat and cold, but moisture 
and dryness. Cold and constant northeast winds in the spring bring rain, and from May 
until the last of June may be called the wet season. In July and August there are no 
settled rains for days at a time, but violent thunderstorms come from the west and south- 
west, which in a few hours swell the smaller streams to the top of the banks, though 
seldom to overflowing. Red River, being the grand reservoir of all the others, is the only 
stream that imundates the surrounding country. This inundation is seldom caused by 
rain, but only by the sudden thawing of the deep snow in the spring. Severe thunder- 
storms seldom last more than an hour or two, when the clouds pass away, the sun shines 
out fiercely, and soon the prairies are as dry as before. ‘These storms are of frequent 
occurrence in the summer months, but the autumn is dry and pleasant. About the tenth 
of September the evenings and mornings become cool and frost appears. October ushers 
in the winter with snow; the rivers close up about the first of November, and remain 
