DEPTH OF THE QU'APPELLE LAKES. 



327 



on the south side. An abundant growth of green con- 

 fervas covered the surface, which, in its aggregations and 

 general distribution, reminded me of a similar profusion 

 on the Lake of Woods during August, in 1857. The hill 

 sides of the valley are deeply ravine d and wooded, but 

 the hills they separate are bare ; we soon noticed too 

 that the north side began to show far less timber than 

 the south, and of more stunted growth. The snowberry 

 was seen in every hollow. Ash-leaved maple and elm 

 were numerous on the south side of the lake, together 

 with the mesaskatomina. 



Two excellent photographs, taken near the Mission, of 

 the lakes and hills, display the chief characteristic of the 

 valley with the fidelity which can only be attained by 

 that wonderful art. 



Soundings near the middle of the lake showed 56 feet, 

 which when added to 249 feet, the depth of the valley 

 below the prairie as ascertained by trigonometrical mea- 

 surement, make the total excavation 305 feet. Another 

 sounding 200 yards from the N.W. point, gave 57 feet of 

 water. This was the greatest depth we obtained, but Mr. 

 Dickinson found the lower lakes to be 66 feet deep. The 

 shores of gravel are strewed with blocks of drift limestone 

 and the unfossiliferous rocks. Gulls are numerous about 

 these remote lakes, and a pair of eagles have had their 

 eyrie for many years in a fine elm tree, near the west 

 end of the Third Fishing Lake. The hop grows very 

 luxuriantly in the thin belt of woods on the south side, 

 and the frost grape hangs in beautiful festoons from the 

 drooping branches of the elm. The water mark shows 

 that this lake rises from six to seven feet above its present 

 level. 



A low plateau, inundated every spring, separates the 

 Third from the Fourth Lake. It is the delta of two ravines 



Y 4 



