100 Canadian Record of Science. 
vacuum is close in front. It has been a respectable wind 
in the Northwest; a terrible gale in Montana; in southern 
Dakota and Nebraska it becomes a death-dealing blizzard. 
Poor Nebraska and Dakota must always expect them; grate- 
ful Assiniboia and Alberta need never fear them. As for 
the Red River Valley region, its situation makes it subject 
occasionally to a very respectable imitation of a regular 
blizzard ; but this is a far rarer and less severe visitation 
than in Minnesota, south of it. 
How do the people who live in the North-west es this 
climate? They universally praise it and laud especially its 
healthfulness. They speak of it as extremely stimulating 
and conducive to good spirits and courage. 
The secret of this is its dryness. The atmosphere is bright, 
and when in winter it is very cold there is seldom any 
wind. Let a man take ordinary care of himself, and he 
will live longer and grow stronger on these prairies than 
anywhere else in the world. 
A peculiar exhilaration of body and soul belongs to the 
climate, especially in and about the Rockies, which is the 
choicest of regions for camping excursions and sporting 
trips. ‘‘ No man should desire a soft life,” wrote King Alfred 
the Great, but “roughing it,’ within reasonable grounds, 
is the marrow of a visit to the Rockies. What a pungent 
and wholesome savor to the taste there is in the very 
phrase. The zest with which one goes about an expedition 
of any kind in the Rocky Mountains is phenomenal in 
itself; I despair of making it credited by inexperienced 
lowlanders. We are told that the joys of Paradise will not 
only be greater than earthly pleasures, but that they will be 
still further magnified by our increased spiritual sensitiveness 
to the “ good times” of Heaven. Well, in the same way, 
the senses are so quickened by the clear, vivifying climate 
of the western uplands in summer, that an outdoor life 
is tenfold more pleasurable there than it could be in the 
east. And then, one’s sleep in the crisp air, after the 
fatigues of the day, is sound and serene. You awake at 
daylight, perhaps, readjust your camp-blankets, and want, 
