412 ASSINNIBOINE AND SASKATCHEWAN EXPEDITION. 



appears to be the result of taste and skill, rather than 

 the natural features of a wild and almost uninhabited 

 country. 



In the prairie valleys, and often when surrounded by 

 conical hills, the ponds are fringed with boulders, while 

 water-marks show that during the spring a large area is 

 flooded. This is particularly the case at the foot of the 

 Touchwood Hills. This great extent of pond and marsh 

 affords food and shelter to vast numbers of aquatic 

 birds. Grey geese were seen here for the first time ; the 

 Canada goose is very abundant ; and duck, teal, cranes, 

 and bittern are numerous. The lakes and marshes all 

 contain salt or brackish water, which we found to our 

 discomfort was not suitable for culinary purposes, or for 

 slaking thirst. Tea made from it had a nauseous taste, 

 and possessed the medicinal effect which might be sup- 

 posed to result from preparing that beverage with a weak 

 solution of Epsom Salts. The Touclrwood Hills, as seen 

 from this open " salt prairie," present a bold outline 

 gently rising from the vast level, and maintaining a course 

 nearly due east and west for ten or twelve miles. 



In the afternoon we began the ascent of a gradual 

 slope at the foot of the Touchwood Hills, following for 

 some distance against the stream the course of a small 

 brook which comes from the summit of the range, 

 bright, cool, rapid, and sweet. At 6 p.m. we reached 

 the summit plateau, and then passed through a very 

 beautiful undulating country, diversified with many pic- 

 turesque lakes and aspen groves, possessing land of the 

 best quality, and covered with the most luxuriant herbage, 

 From the west side of the summit plateau the Quill 

 Lakes are seen to the north-west ; these bodies of water 

 have long been celebrated for the large numbers of goose 

 quills which were occasionally collected there by Indians 



