ORIGIN OF THE QU'APPELLE LAKES. 



367 



west offer many such instances ; the Little Souris Eiver, 

 for example, in passing through the Blue Hills ; the 

 Assinniboine, for a 150 miles, flows through a broad 

 deep valley, evidently excavated by its waters ; the rivers 

 in western Canada often flow in deep eroded valleys ; but 

 in no instance to my knowledge are deep and long lakes 

 known to occupy a river valley, where nearly horizontal 

 and very soft rocks preclude the assumption that they 

 may have been occasioned by falls, without bearing some 

 traces of the force which excavated their basins. They 

 seem to point to the former existence of a much deeper 

 valley now broken into detached lakes by the partial 

 filling up of intervening distances. It was certainly with 

 mingled feelings of anxiety and pleasurable anticipation 

 that we embarked on the broad Saskatchewan, hoping 

 during our long journey down its swift stream to find 

 some clue to the origin of the curious inosculating valley 

 of the Qu'appeUe we had traced from one water-shed to 

 another. 



