416 ASSINNIBOINE AND SASKATCHEWAN EXPEDITION. 



These opposite ridges seem to show that a former lake or 

 arm of the sea, from thirty to forty miles- broad, has left a 

 record behind. 



Last year the grasshoppers visited the Touchwood Hills 

 and deposited their eggs ; this year the new brood con- 

 sumed every green leaf in the garden, and made local 

 ravages in the surrounding country. They took their 

 flight on the 28 th July for the south-east, and during the 

 period of my visit but few were to be seen. 



Snow falls on the Touchwood Hills to the depth of two 

 feet and a half in the woods, and in the prairie where 

 aspen groves are numerous it is not unfrequently found one 

 foot and a half deep. In the great treeless prairie to the 

 south where the herbage is short, the snow is drifted off 

 by winds. The climate of the Touchwood Hills is evi- 

 dently very humid ; thunder storms appear to travel in 

 the direction of this range and occasion a copious pre- 

 cipitation as they pass over it. Not only are lakes very 

 numerous and well supplied with water, but there are 

 several living streams flowing from the range. Indeed 

 the whole country from the Touchwood Hills to the 

 Biding Mountain, including the country about the head 

 waters of the Assinniboine is dotted with innumerable 

 lakes, annually replenished by summer rains. 



The humidity of the climate of this part of British 

 America contrasts in a remarkable manner with the 

 variable character of that of the region under the same 

 meridian lying six or seven degrees further south, in the 

 territory of the United States. 



When Lieutenant Warren reached Fort Pierre in lati- 

 tude 44° 24', longitude 100° 30', in 1855, he was informed 

 that there had been no rain or snow there for more than 

 a year. The appearance of the vegetation confirmed the 

 statement, as there was scarcely a green spot anywhere to 



