RED RIVER OF THE NORTH. 173 
The country bordering on this part of Red River is quite picturesque. A sloping 
prairie extends down to the river, crested with beautifully disposed groves of timber, 
the foliage of which, at the season we were there, was of the freshest and deepest 
green. The subjoined view represents the features of this landscape. 
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RED RIVER OF THE NORTH, BELOW OTTER TAIL LAKE, 
The river soon winds, in a westerly course, for about four miles, between banks of 
drift, from fifty to seventy feet high, forming several swift rapids, and again 
meanders through the same kind of fine, open, rolling prairie, with groves of timber. 
A number of white granitic boulders are scattered here and there on the elevated 
swells of the prairie, some of which, in the distance, might be mistaken, in a settled 
country, for small dwellings. Near the foot of a short rapid, where the river makes a 
bend to the northwest, I discovered the first ledges of limestone which I saw in place 
since entering Red River. They might easily be overlooked, since they protruded 
but slightly from under the sod of the prairie, two to three feet above the bed of 
the river. The lower layers are a magnesian limestone, of a light buff colour, with 
brownish stains. The upper layers are composed of a purer calcareous rock, resem- 
bling, in lithological appearance, specimens obtained by Dr. Shumard in the drift of 
the St. Peter's. Both contain impressions of fossils, but these are most abundant 
in the upper layers. Among them, I recognised an undetermined species of Del- 
thyris, an Orthis like the Testudinaria, a Lepteena like the Sericea, and a turbinated 
coral. The fossils are casts, which fact makes it difficult to determine the species 
positively ; but I feel satisfied, that the formation belongs to the Lower Silurian 
system, of the old continent. 
A short distance below this, in running rapids which are usually avoided by a 
portage, we met with the accident to our canoe, and loss of part of our provisions, 
as mentioned in the Introduction. 
Whilst the men were repairing the hole in our canoe, the clouds cleared away 
sufficiently to get a series of observations of the sun’s altitude, which gave for the 
mean local time 2 h. 54’ 53°76”, and the estimated latitude 46° 13’ 24”, 
