4C6 ASSINNIBOINE AND SASKATCHEWAN EXPEDITION. 



annual burning of the prairie may be looked for as 

 a matter of course as long as wild Indians live in the 

 country. A fire lit on the South Branch of the Saskatche- 

 wan may extend in a few weeks, or even days, to Eed 

 Eiver, according to the season and the direction and force 

 of the wind. 



Long Creek maintains a breadth of six feet, flowing 

 clear but sluggishly through a broad shallow depression, 

 where wild hay is as abundant as if the whole valley were 

 one continuous beaver meadow. The burrows of moles 

 are very numerous, indeed wherever the soil is very rich 

 these little animals are to be found in large numbers ; 

 they form excellent indicators of the fertility of a soil, 

 being never seen where the land is poor and sterile. 

 Ponds and lakes are abundant, this extensive distribution 

 of water pointing to a much more humid climate than that 

 of the country south of the Qu'appelle. In the morning 

 I killed a black bear which was leisurely cropping the 

 willows on the banks of Long Creek. 



Our trail on the 11th lay through an equally fertile 

 country. The burrows of foxes and badgers have only 

 twice shown a light gravelly substratum on low ridges, 

 otherwise the black mould is everywhere distributed. 

 A chain of lakes, lying westerly from our course, give 

 rise to Long Creek. The Lakes are from 200 yards to 

 a third of a mile broad, and form a continuous series 

 connected by a small rivulet for a distance of ten miles. 

 A hill range, called the Birch Hills, whose western flanks 

 we turned, is said by Indians to extend to the rear of 

 Fort Pelly. The Birch Hills form the dividing ridge 

 between the water which flows into the main Saskatche- 

 wan and the Assinniboine, or Eed Deer and Swan Eivers. 

 The remarkable profusion of flowers gives extraordinary 

 beauty to large open areas ; they generally occur in 



