ir>4 



NOTES OX MAMTOBA. 



TEMPERATURE. 

 Ifc was long ago asserted as a principle by Geologists that, " land 

 in quantity situated to the southward of lat. 40° north very ma- 

 terially raises the temperature of lands lying so the north of such 

 parallel." (Sir C. Lyell.) To the expression " land in quantity," 

 I would add when its character is that of a desert or arid nature. 

 Another maxim has been laid down by a well known writer ou 

 American Climatology (Blodgett) " that high arid plains are indica- 

 tive of great summer heat, of an arid atmosphere, and of little rain 

 or snowfall. Now the conditions required to test the accuracy of 

 both these propositions are presented in the position occupied by the 

 North- West Territory. South of our boundary within the United 

 States lies a vast tract of land, generally arid or desert, of which at 

 least 500,000 square miles are embraced in a plateau which has a 

 general level of 6,000 feet. At Laramie City, in lat. 42° it is about 

 7,000 feet above sea level, from thence northward it rapidly falls off 

 so that when it reaches our boundary in lat. 49° at Pembina, it is 

 considerably under 1,000 feet. At the base of the Rocky Moun- 

 tains it is under 4,000 feet. From the boundary the plain extends 

 far to the north and only terminates at the Arctic Sea. In such a 

 wide range of latitude it might well be expected that a considerable 

 difference of temperature would be found. The following Table, 

 however, shows the temperature as being wonderfully uniform : — 

 (See Metereological Report, 1878.) 



Place. 



Winnipeg . . . . 

 Fort McLeod . . 

 Norway House. 

 Fort Simpson. . 



Mean of 

 Summer Months. 



62.8 

 60.3 

 59.9 

 61.8 



In the same parallels of lat. in Europe the temperature is recorded 

 as follows : (See Blodgett.) 



