INDIAN TRIBES OF THE MISSOURI VALLEY. 383 
After these comes White Earth River, on the eastern boundary of the district now 
under consideration, which is about one hundred miles in length, and at the mouth over 
one hundred yards wide. ‘This like the others becomes very full from the melting of snow 
in the spring, but falls low enough in course of the summer to be fordable in most places, 
either on foot or on horseback. This stream could be navigated with small canoes during 
the months of April and May. It takes its name from a kind of white pipe-clay, which 
occurs about half way to its source, and is supplied with water from springs in the Coteau 
de Prairie. 
The entire country occupied by the Assiniboins, or hunted in exclusively by them, the 
outline of which has been given, embraces an area of about 20,000 square miles, and pre- 
sents the same general features as the rest of the Upper Missouri territory, on the east side 
of the Missouri River. From James River up, it may be said to be one great plain, hills 
and timber only occurring where rivers run, and even the small streams are wooded only 
a-short distance above their mouths, so that the traveller may pass for days over large 
tracts without meeting with a tree or shrub. In the valleys of the rivers, there is some 
good land for agricultural purposes, but the level plains present a sterile aspect, and can 
only be adapted to the grazing of cattle. The soil for the most part is not deep, but light 
and sandy, absorbs rain readily, and the hills, which are usually composed of indurated 
sands and clays, are often washed by atmospheric agencies into most grotesque and singular 
forms, called by the Indians ma-ka-si/-éa, or “‘ Bad Lands.” . 
The indigenous grasses are quite numerous in species, and very nutritious, affording 
most excellent pasturage for horses, horned cattle, and sheep. The dry season of autumn 
gradually desiccates the vegetation, so that all the nutritious substances remain, and it is 
not until the melting of the snows of spring that their nutritious character is lost. At this 
period, all the herbivorous animals of the plains become quite weak and thin in flesh, but 
quickly recover in the months of May and June. This monotonous and barren surface of 
the country only terminates after crossing the Coteau de Prairie, which divides the waters 
of the Missouri from those of the Red River of the North, where both the nature of the 
soil and the general appearance present an entirely different character, to which allusion 
has already been made in our description of the Crees. 
Though wood cannot be found to any extent in the Assiniboin plains, and dried buffalo- 
dung, usually called “ buffalo chips,” is used by the natives for fuel during the summer 
season, or any portion of the year when the ground is not covered with snow, yet water 
can be had at all times from small lakes, or rather large ponds. ‘These are met with in 
many places on the prairie, are formed by rain or melted snow, and have no visible outlet, 
but diminish by evaporation and saturation. They differ in size from one hundred. 
yards to two or three miles in circumference, usually contain tolerably good water, are 
VOL. X11.—49 
