230 Dr James Hector on the Physical Features of the 
are covered with the nutritious grasses and leguminous plants 
of the forest country. 
The woodland country which bounds the plains clearly pos- 
sesses the physiognomy of the sub-arctic province. The most 
prevalent tree is the Abies alba, which only reaches any great 
size in river valleys. On the dry rising grounds grows the 
Cyprés of the Canadian voyageurs ; but under that name they 
include two different species of pines—P. Banksiana, and a 
pine allied to the P. inops of the United States, or to the 
P. contorta of the Pacific coast. A few of this latter species 
were seen near Fort Carlton, after which they were not again 
met with on a due west line until near the Rocky Mountains, 
south-west from Edmonton. The most important though not 
the most plentiful tree of the wooded country is the birch 
(Betula papyracea), as it is the only hard wood which the 
natives possess, and is used for making dog-sleighs, snow-shoes, 
and other necessary articles. These trees, with a few larches, 
balsam firs (A. balsamea), red pines, poplars (P. balsamifera, 
and P. tremuloides), comprise the bulk of the forest that 
covers the country to the north of the Saskatchewan; but by 
the sides of the rivers, which have generally deeply depressed 
valleys, there is of course a much greater variety in the vege- 
tation, owing to the sheltered situation and the rich soil. 
The belt of partially cleared country which lies to the south 
of the forest-land, and stretches continuously from the Red 
River Settlement to the Rocky Mountains, averages 80 to 100 
miles in width, but it expands very much towards the west, 
owing to the bend which the southern border makes to the 
south-west. In this district the woods are very scanty, and 
consist almost exclusively of the aspen poplar, which forms 
small groves and artificial-looking clumps that dot rich pas- 
ture lands. Sometimes a small clump of spruce fir has been 
left by the fires, but this is only in a few rare localities, at 
least when at any distance from the limit of the true forest. Be- 
tween Carlton and Edmonton, along the Hudson Bay Company’s 
trail, for a distance of nearly 400 miles, there are not more | 
than five or six spots where any of the Conifer have been left. 
The clearing of this country is due to a very simple cause. 
The prairie tribes of Indians, 15,000 to 16,000 in number, 
a —_ _ 
