388 ASSINNIBOINE AND SASKATCHEWAN EXPEDITION. 



prairie. The dead bodies of buffalo are seen floating down 

 the stream, or lodged on sand-bars in shallow water. The 

 banks expose occasionally yellow drift clay with numerous 

 boulders ; the soil of the prairie appears to improve as we 

 progress northwards, and the grass is no longer stunted 

 and withered. Little rapids occur at the bends of the 

 river, but there is always deep water on the other side. A 

 heavy thunder-storm compelled us to camp two hours be- 

 fore sunset. 



August 3rd. — The river at our camp is not more than 

 200 yards broad, but deep and swift; the volume of 

 water it carries here, about eighty miles from the Grand 

 Forks, is much less than at the Elbow, where it is half 

 a mile broad. No doubt evaporation . during its course 

 through arid plains is competent to occasion a large 

 diminution. Eecent water-marks show a rise of five and 

 eight feet, but near the top of the lowest bank stranded 

 timber occurs twenty-five feet above the present level of 

 the river. On both sides a treeless prairie is alone visible. 

 There is a remarkable absence of animal life, no deer or 

 bear have been seen, the tracks of buffalo are everywhere, 

 but they have already passed to the east. The nights are 

 cold but fine, and dew is very abundant. The prairie 

 level is not more than eighty feet above the river. 



At 8 a.m. we arrived at a part of the river where it 

 showed an increase in breadth, it is now about a quarter 

 of a mile broad, still flowing through a, treeless prairie, in 

 which only one low hill is visible. This character con- 

 tinues for many miles, the hill banks then begin to increase 

 in altitude, and are about 100 feet high, but the river 

 still flows through a dreary prairie for thirty miles from 

 our camp, after which " the Woods," as they are termed, 

 begin ; they consist of a few clumps of aspen on the hill 

 flanks of the dee]) valley. The face of the country is 



