of the Central Part of British North America. 265 
applied along the 49th, extends between Long. 100° and 114° 
W. It contains, however, many varieties of land, and some 
limited areas that are really even good; but, on the whole, it 
must be described as deficient in wood, water, and grass. 
_ Round the northern border of this arid district sweeps the 
“ Fertile Belt” of country which I before mentioned. It is 
nothing more than the ill-defined boundary of the bald plains 
from the gloomy woodlands of the circum-arctic forests. As 
it forms the favourite camping grounds of the Indian tribes, 
the habit which these savages have of burning the vegetation 
has gradually improved this country for the purposes of settle- 
ment, by clearing off the heavy timber, to remove which is 
always the first and most arduous labour of the colonist. The 
‘“‘ Fertile Belt,” which thus possesses all the good qualities of 
rich soil and an abundant growth of the nutritious leguminous 
plants of a woodland country, but associated with open ex- 
panses ready for the plough, or for depasturage, stretches from 
the wooded country at the south end of Lake Winipeg in a 
north-west direction continuously to the Rocky Mountains, so 
that the westward progress of settlement will not meet with 
the same obstacle that checks it within the United States. 
_ We thus perceive that in some respects the Saskatchewan 
country compares favourably with Canada; but we must not 
forget that the valuable timber trees, which are such a great 
source of wealth to that province, totally disappear as we pro- 
ceed to the west, only very few of them ever reaching the 
longitude of Lake Winipeg. Beyond that, in the northern 
thick woods, the coarse and worthless white spruce, with a few 
small birches, poplars, and willows, compose the forest growth, 
while in the “ Fertile Belt” almost the only tree is the aspen 
poplar, which forms very artificial-looking groves and clumps, 
that add greatly to the beauty of the scenery, but are useless 
beyond giving shelter and yielding a very inferior quality of 
firewood. 
With all its disadvantages, the Saskatchewan country offers 
a most desirable field to the settler who is deficient in capital, 
and who has no desires beyond the easy life and moderate 
gains of simple agricultural occupations; and it is only the 
difficulty of access to it that, for the present at all events, pre- 
vents its immediate occupation. 
