330 ASSINNIBOINE AND SASKATCHEWAN EXPEDITION. 



the Great Valley, having excavated a channel 10 to 12 

 feet deep in the alluvial flats through which it pursued its 

 tortuous course. Its banks revealed the following sec- 

 tion : — 



6 inches light vegetable mould with sand, 

 4 inches yellow clay, 

 10 inches light vegetable mould (former surface), 

 9 feet yellow clay, 



2 to 3 inches ferruginous sand to the level of the 

 river. 



The last layer was hard, compact, and very coarse- 

 grained. The river is here 60 feet broad, and flows 

 at a rate of a mile and a half an hour. At the mouth 

 of Long Creek, an insignificant affluent, the hills are 

 covered with limestone and granitic boulders ; the north 

 side is treeless like the vast prairie beyond it, the south 

 side has aspens in the ravines and aspen groves on the 

 prairie. The width of the valley remains uniform, never 

 exceeding one mile and a quarter or being less than one 

 mile. The pasturage in the flats is superb, the grass being 

 long and very thickly set. Eobins, magpies, and yellow 

 birds enliven small aspen groves on the south side, or the 

 thickets of cherry, mesaskatomina, dogwood, and snow- 

 berry, which fill the hollows and ravines ; the cat bird is 

 also common, and the tyrant flycatcher everywhere. In 

 the river were vast numbers of ducks and geese ; the young 

 birds frequently made us an excellent meal ; but no four- 

 footed animals were seen, with the exception of one prong- 

 horned antelope and one prairie hare. 



In the afternoon of this day we made many miles by 

 sailing before a strong east wind, notwithstanding a heavy 

 rain and thunder-storm ; we were glad to be able to push 

 on through this seemingly interminable and now mono- 



