270 B. N. A. BOUNDARY COMMISSION. 

denuded great areas of both trees and soil, leaving only the bare, 
rounded, rocky substratum of the country. 
621. The areas capable of cultivation are chiefly those based on 
the low terrace level, which has already been described. Lacrosse 
Island, and other islands, and sheltered bays, show considerable remnants 
of this terrace. It also forms the flat ground surrounding the North- 
west Angle, and has there been cultivated to a small extent, the 
Indians growing patches of maize, which thrives well considering 
the small amount of attention given to it. Wheat, I am informed, has 
been sown as an experiment, and succeeds well. Potatoes yield ~ 
excellent crops, and all the ordinary vegetables and cereals would 
doubtless flourish, with careful farming; were there sufficient induce- 
ment for their cultivation. The same terrace forms some flat land 
in the chain of large islands of Sand-hill Lake, and it is also exten- 
sively developed on both sides of Rainy River, and from the accounts 
of Prof. Hind and others, would appear to run a long way up that 
stream. Westward from the mouth of the river, and forming the 
northern shore of Minnesota, it extends for about ten miles, and though 
generally swampy, has an elevation sufficient to admit of drainage, 
and sustains a fair growth of elm, poplar, cedar, spruce, and birch. The 
eastern front of Buffalo Point, probably belongs to the same terrace, 
though considerably higher than elsewhere. Its surface is dry and 
clad with a thick growth of poplar and birch.  <it-a-gane-minis, or 
Garden Island, has been from time immemorial cultivated by the Indians 
of the lake, and is one of their great meeting places and head quarters. 
Its area must be from one to two square miles, and though I was 
unable to visit it, it appears from a distance to be level, and to suppot 
a fair growth of timber. It is now almost deserted. 
622. All these localities are based on the old plateau or terrace level, 
a former lake bottom ; and the soil where I have examined it, is composed 
of fine sand and calcareous debris, deficient in vegetable matter; which 
when it occurs, is apt to form a peaty accumulation on the surface, 
623. The greater part of the southern and western margin of the 
lake is utterly useless, and a more forbidding and desolate region can 
scarcely be imagined. The immediate border of the lake, is here formed 
by alow ridge of sand, often blown into miniature sand-hills, but some- 
times bound together by the roots of various grasses. Behind this 
margin is very generally a stretch of grassy swamp and lagoon, of a 
mile or two in width, and bordered in the distance by a forest of 
