110 



RED RIVER EXPLORING EXPEDITION. 



south branch of the Saskatchewan were indented, and in 

 some instances penetrated by hailstones during a severe 

 storm ; in several places, many miles apart, we observed 

 the long grass laid smooth and uniform over wide areas 

 as if pressed by a heavy roller. 



Just before sunset I ascended a hill about 250 feet 

 high, and obtained from its summit a very extensive 

 view of the surrounding country. The broad river, 

 with its numerous deep and spreading bays, was seen 

 stretching far to the north, and all around dome-shaped 

 hills, similar to the one on which I stood, showed 

 their bare and scantily- wooded summits ; generally they 

 seemed to be thinly covered with stunted pine, but in 

 the hollows or valleys between them, pine and spruce 

 of large dimensions, interspersed with fair sized aspen 

 and birch, nourished abundantly. The pine on the granite 

 hills grew in little hollows, or in crevices of the rock. 

 The general surface was either bare, and so smooth and 

 polished as to make walking dangerous, or else thickly 

 covered with cariboo moss and tripe de roche. The 

 aspect of the country was similar in its outline to the 

 region about Milles Lacs, but the vegetation was far 

 inferior. Until we arrived at Islington Mission, the 

 general features of the country maintained an appearance 

 of hopeless sterility, and inhospitable seclusion. 



Islington Mission, or the White Dog, or Chien Blanc,, 

 for by these names it is known to the voyageurs, occupies 

 an area of what seems to be drift clay extending over 

 250 acres, surrounded by granite hills. The soil of 

 this small oasis is very fertile, and all kinds of farm 

 and garden crops succeed well. Wheat sown on the 

 20th of May was reaped on the 26th of August ; in 

 general it requires but ninety-three days to mature. 

 Potatoes have not been attacked by spring or fall frosts 



