MOUTHS OF RED RIVER. 



123 



and rushes, where, notwithstanding exposure to the dis- 

 comfort of the waves washing over our camp during the 

 night, we were compelled to remain in a damp maze of 

 reeds until the wind and waves subsided. Here I had 

 an opportunity of observing the vast number of duck, 

 geese, and plover, which congregated amongst the rushes 

 at the approach of night. Early in the morning, flights 

 swept backwards and forwards close to our camp in con- 

 stant succession. 



Eed Eiver enters Lake Winnipeg by six distinct 

 channels, which will be described in the second volume. 

 Its junction with the lake by the branch through which 

 we entered is marked by a low spit of sand, which was 

 the only piece of land visible amidst the tall reeds 

 extending far to the south. 



Land which is dry during the summer months at the 

 stage of water in the river on the 5th September, 1857, 

 begins five miles from the mouth of the main channel. 

 Half a mile above this point, Netley Creek comes in from 

 the west, and by means of this small affluent, much of the 

 water from the upper country during floods reaches Lake 

 Winnipeg. Large numbers of haystacks were seen here 

 in September 1857. An immense area is flooded during 

 the spring, and produces a very rank profusion of those 

 grasses which delight in a rich and marshy soil. 



A little below the Indian village, fourteen miles from 

 the mouths of the river, the whole country rises, the 

 banks are about thirty feet high, the timber is imposing, 

 and all the aspects of a level, fertile region, gradually invest 

 the scene ; but the sameness in the general appearance of 

 the banks at this season of the year soon becomes mono- 

 tonous, after the wild and varying beauties of the 

 Winnipeg. The sight of clearings, however, with the 

 neat, white houses of settlers at the Indian missionary 



