234 



RED RIVER EXPLORING EXPEDITION. 



described above, with the exception of the Assinniboine 

 and Eed Eiver prairies, is low, swampy, and in great 

 part occupied by Lakes Winnipeg, Winnipego-sis, 

 Manitobah, and other bodies of water of less magnitude, 

 having an area exceeding in the aggregate thirteen 

 thousand square miles. 



Eising above Pembina Mountain in the form of steps, 

 are two other terraces, best seen on the east and west 

 flanks of the Eiding and Duck Mountains, but obliterated 

 in the valley of the Saskatchewan and Assinniboine by 

 the denuding forces which have swept over the whole 

 of this region. The south-western limit of these table- 

 lands is marked by the boundary of the Grand Coteau de 

 Missouri, which forms the highest terrace or plateau of 

 the series. 



MOUNTAINS, LAKES, AND RIVERS. 



Surveying the country in the direction in which the 

 great rivers flow, these vast plains slope gently from a low 

 height of land near the south branch of the Saskatchewan 

 with an easterly trend to the Assinniboine. This slope is 

 continued throughout the valley of the Assinniboine to 

 Eed Eiver, after an abrupt declension, where the Assinni- 

 boine descends the flank of Pembina Mountain. 



North-east of the Assinniboine the country rises almost 

 imperceptibly for a distance of fifteen to thirty-five miles, 

 as far as the base of a series of hill-ranges lying parallel 

 to the general direction of the river valley, before it makes 

 its easterly bend ; it then rises by successive steps and 

 sloping plateaux to a summit altitude of about one thou- 

 sand feet above Lake Winnipeg, or sixteen hundred feet 

 above the sea. I 



These hill-ranges are known by the names of the Eiding 

 Mountain and the Duck Mountain. On their eastern and 



