336 



ASSINNIBOINE 



AND SASKATCHEWAN EXPEDITION. 



grass, and plants common in dry arid plains. This after- 

 noon we saw three fires spring up between us and the 

 Grand Coteau. They were Indian signs, but whether they 

 referred to the presence of buffalo, or whether they were 

 designed to intimate to distant bands the arrival of sus- 

 picious strangers, we could not then tell, and not knowing 

 whether they originated from Crees, Assinniboines, or 

 Blackfeet, we became cautious. In a few days we 

 ascertained that the fire had been put out* by Crees, to 

 inform their friends that they had found buffalo. 



The grandeur of the prairie on fire belongs to itself. It 

 is like a volcano in full activity, you cannot imitate it, be- 

 cause it is impossible to obtain those gigantic elements 

 from which it derives its awful splendour. . Fortunately, 

 in the present instance the wind was from the west, and 

 drove the fires in the opposite direction, and being south 

 of us we could contemplate the magnificent spectacle 

 without anxiety. One object in burning the prairie at this 

 time, was to turn the buffalo ; they had crossed the 

 Saskatchewan in great numbers near the Elbow, and were 

 advancing towards us, and crossing the Qu'appelle not far 

 from the Height of Land ; by burning the prairie east of 

 their course, they would be diverted to the south, and 

 feed for a time on the Grand Coteau before they pursued 

 their way to the Little Souris, in the country of the Sioux, 

 south of the 49th parallel. 



Putting out fire in the prairies is a telegraphic mode of 

 communication frequently resorted to by Indians. Its 

 consequences are seen in the destruction of the forests 

 which once covered an immense area south of the 

 Qu'appelle and Assinniboine. The aridity of those vast 

 prairies is partly due to this cause. The soil, though 

 light, derives much of its apparent sterility from the 



* A native expression ; ''put out fire," signifies to set the prairie on fire. 



