DOWN THE PEACE RIVEK. 99 



The Red River, which joins the Peace ahout twenty-five 

 miles helow the Chutes, flows from the south with a course, 

 it was said, of about two hundred miles, and up this beautiful 

 stream there are extensive prairies. The soil is very rich at 

 the confluence, and we noticed that in the garden at the little 

 Hudson's Bay Company's post, where we transacted our 

 business, vegetables and potatoes were further advanced than 

 at Vermilion, and some ears of wheat were almost ripe. Erom 

 statements made we judged this to be a region well worth 

 special investigation ; it was, in fact, one of the most inviting 

 points for settlement we had seen on our journey. 



Following down the Peace, some shoaly places were met 

 with in the afternoon, the banks being low, sandy and uni- 

 form, with open woods to the south. The current was stately, 

 but so slow that oars ha,d often to be used. A chilly sunset 

 was foEowed by an exceedingly brilliant display of Northern 

 Lights, called by the Crees Pahkugh ka Neematchik — " The 

 Dance of the Spirits." This generally presages change ; but 

 the day was fine, and next morning we passed what are called 

 the Lower Rapids, below which the banks are lined by precipi- 

 tous walls of limestone, the river narrowing to less than half 

 of its previous width. 



Landing at Peace Point, the traditional scene of the peace 

 between the Beavers and the Chipewyans, or between the 

 Beavers and the Crees, as Mackenzie says, or all three, we 

 found it to be a wide and beautiful table-like prairie, begirt 

 with aspens, on which we flushed a pack of prairie chickens. 

 Below it, and looking upward beyond an island, a line of 

 timber, fringed along the water's edge with willows, sweeps 

 across the view, met half-way by a wall of Devonian rock, 

 whose alternate glitter and shade, in the strong sunshiue 

 streaming from the east, seemed almost spectral. 



The heavily timbered island added to the effect, and, with 

 a patch of limestone on its cheek, formed a strikingly 

 beautiful foreground. 



The only exciting incident of the day was the vigorous 



