REVIEWS—NORTH WES! TERRITORY. 191 
the buffalo; they had crossed the Saskatchewan in great numbers 
near the Elbow and were advancing towards us, and crossing the 
Qu’ Appelle not far from the height of land; by burning the prairie 
east of their course, they would be diverted to the south, and feed for 
a time on the Grand Coteau before they pursued their way to the 
Little Souris, im the country of the Sioux, south of the 49th parallel. 
_ Putting out fire in the prairies is a telegraphic mode of communi- 
cation frequently resorted to by Indians. Its consequences are seen in 
the destruction of the forests which once covered an immense area 
south of the Qu’Appelle and Assiniboine. The aridity of those vast 
prairies is partly due to this cause. The soil, though light, derives 
much of its apparent sterility from the annual fires. Jn low places 
and in shallow depressions where marshes are formed in spring, the 
soil is rich, much mixed with vegetable matter, and supports a very 
luxuriant growth of grass. If willows and aspens were permitted to 
grow over the prairies, they would soon be converted into humid 
tracts in which vegetable matter would accumulate, and a soil adapted 
to forest trees be formed. If a portion of prairie escapes fire for two 
or three years the result is seen in the growth of willows and aspens, 
first in patches, then in large areas, which in a short time become 
united and cover the country; thus retarding evaporation and per- 
mitting the accumulation of vegetable matter in the soil. A fire 
comes, destroys the young forest growth, and establishes a prairie once 
more. The reclamation of immense areas is not beyond human 
power. The extension of the prairies is evidently due to fires, and 
the fires are caused by Indians, chiefly for the purpose of telegraphic 
communication, or to divert the buffalo from the course they may be 
taking. These operations will cease as the Indians and buffalo 
diminish, events which are taking place with great rapidity.” 
Thus we perceive that the poor Indian learns as little as the Buffalo, 
to profit by experience, or to adopt from the white settlers any of those 
simplest arts of civilization, whereby the whites, though as yet a mere 
handful among the Indian Tribes of that vast territory, are destined 
to be their supplanters; and the rapid diminution of the latter is 
already noted as a process in full activity. The Indians, however, as 
will be seen, though hopelessly indifferent to all prudential regard of 
their own reckless proceedings, are jealously alive to the encroach- 
ments of the Whites, on their territories and hunting grounds. 
After an interesting description of Sand Hill Lake, and the remark- 
i 
