318 ASSINNIBOINE AND SASKATCHEWAN EXPEDITION. 



honour of our arrival. Pratt showed me some specimens 

 of lignite which he had taken from a bed two feet thick at 

 the Wood Hills, about eighty miles south-west of the Hud- 

 son's Bay Company's post. He described the hill or range 

 of hills as an island in the prairie, which, like the Stony 

 Mountain near Eed Eiver, had escaped denudation, or, it 

 may have been La Eoche Percee, visited by Mr. F. W. 

 Lander in 1853*, and by Dr. Hect@r in 1858.f 



An old Indian accompanying Charles Pratt, born in this 

 part of the country, told us that he remembered the time 

 when the whole of the prairie through which we had 

 passed since leaving Fort Ellice was one continuous forest, 

 broken only by two or three narrow intervals of barren 

 ground. They told us that the Plain Crees and the Black- 

 feet were at war with one another, and that the Crees 

 were hurriedly "pitching east " in order to avoid the Black- 

 feet. This intelligence had considerable effect upon our 

 old hunter ; he made his will and gave it to Charles Pratt 

 to give to Archdeacon Cochrane of Prairie Portage. 



The view from the Indian Head range is exceedingly 

 beautiful ; it embraces an extensive area of level prairie 

 to the north, bounded by the Aspen Woods on the borders 

 of the Qu'appelle Valley. A portion of the old forest 

 alluded to by the Indian still exists on this range. It 

 consists of aspen of large growth and very thickly set. 

 A few cabri (prong-horned antelope) were seen in the 

 Indian Head range ; they used to abound in the country 

 drained by the Qu'appelle. 



On Saturday the 17th we entered a very beautiful and 

 fertile prairie at the foot of the Indian Head range, our 

 course leading us in a northerly direction to the Qu'ap- 

 pelle Mission. The common yarrow was very abundant, 



* Pacific Railway Explorations. 



f Blue Book. Capt. Palliser's Explorations. 



