A SURPRISE. 



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light sandy and gravelly loam, and in many parts strewed 

 with boulders. I rather think that such is the character 

 of a considerable extent of this section of the country. 



As I stood upon the summit of the bluff, looking down 

 upon the glittering lake 300 feet below, and across the 

 boundless plains, no living thing in view, no sound of life 

 anywhere, I thought of the time to come when will be 

 seen passing swiftly along the distant horizon the white 

 cloud of the locomotive on its way from the Atlantic to 

 the Pacific, and when the valley will resound with the 

 merry voices of those who have come from the busy 

 city on the banks of Eed Eiver to see the beautiful lakes 

 of the Qu'appelle. The view down the valley, where the 

 river, after issuing from the lake, commences again its 

 strange contortions, was doubtless very pretty, but it 

 showed too the trouble that was before me, that there 

 would be no rest for eye or finger, such as I had when 

 taking long straight courses on the lake. 



Again re-seated in the canoe we soon passed out of the 

 lake into the river, the current of which for some distance 

 is very strong and rapid, about two and a half miles per 

 hour according to the log-line, and the width averages 70 

 feet, and the depth 3 ft. 6 in. A little way down it, as 

 we swiftly and noiselessly glided round a sudden bend, 

 we were borne by the current very close indeed to a 

 group of Indian women who were enjoying the pleasures 

 of a bath, quite as much to our astonishment as to theirs. 

 First a loud chorus of screams arose, and then there was 

 a rushing about for blankets and other apparel, which 

 they adjusted with most wonderful rapidity, and then 

 away they scampered to their wigwams laughing heartily 

 as they went. Presently men and boys came trooping 

 down to us simply arrayed in blankets, some worn in 

 rather a neglige fashion, for the day was very hot. The 



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