CUT ARM CREEK. 



423 



ation. This phenomenon has been noticed several times ; 

 the setting of the sun appears to admit of the cooling of 

 the air sufficiently to allow the dew point to be quickly 

 attained on the surface of vegetables, notwithstanding the 

 screen of clouds which must necessarily obstruct radiation 

 into space, but it would also appear to show that the 

 temperature of the clouds must be very low. With the 

 thermometer at 65° in the air, ten minutes after sunset, 

 and under a cloudy sky, I have three times observed dew 

 form since leaving Fort a la Corne. On clear nights dew 

 has always been deposited during the summer, often so 

 copiously as to wet the tents. 



On the 20th we crossed a rapid stream with a swift 

 current, ten feet broad and one and a half deep, flowing 

 towards the Qu'appelle. It was thought to be Cut Arm 

 Creek ; it meanders through a prairie covered with low 

 willows, and named the Willow Prairie, which embraces 

 an extensive area of excellent land, sustaining fine pas- 

 turage. Limestone boulders were seen again to-day, but 

 the country preserves a uniform and level character, with 

 a few gravelly ridges and mounds ; neither lakes nor 

 marshes are numerous, and wood for fuel is very scarce. 

 Little Cut Arm Creek, which we crossed during the 

 morning, flows in a ravine about 80 feet deep and 400 

 broad. The next day lakes began to appear again, the 

 prairies to become more rolling and intersected by ridges, 

 which preserve a certain amount of parallelism, generally 

 from north-east to south-west. The aspen replaces the 

 willow in small clumps, and after passing Big Cut Arm 

 Creek, the country is decidedly undulating, attractive, 

 and very well watered. Large hills appear near the Big 

 Cut Arm, which flows in a valley 1200 feet broad and 

 180 feet deep, resembling that of the Qu'appelle, from 

 which we are not now far distant. We camped in the 



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