434 ASSINNIBOINE AND SASKATCHEWAN EXPEDITION. 



alluvial soil of great depth resting on drift clay or shale, 

 of a slightly bituminous appearance. # 



"About thirty miles above Swan Lake the prairie 

 region fairly commences. There the river winds about 

 in a fine valley, the banks of which rise to the height of 

 eighty or -one hundred feet. Beyond these an apparently 

 unbroken level extends on one side for a distance of 

 fifteen or twenty miles to the Porcupine Hills, and for 

 an equal distance on the other, to the high table-land 

 called the Duck Mountain. From this south-westward 

 to Thunder Mountain the country is the finest I have 

 ever seen in a state of nature. The prospect is bounded 

 by the blue outline of the hills just named, while, in the 

 plain, alternate wood and prairie present an appearance 

 more pleasing than if either entirely prevailed. 



" On the 10th of June, the time at which we passed, 

 the trees were in full foliage, and the prairie openings 

 presented a vast expanse of green sward. 



" On approaching Thunder Mountain, which seems to 

 be a connecting link between the Porcupine range and 

 the Duck Mountain, the country becomes more uneven. 

 Some of the ridges on the shoulder of the Thunder 

 Mountain even show sand, but there are wide valleys 

 between them. 



" On leaving Swan Eiver to cross to Port Pelly, the 

 land rises rapidly to a plateau elevated about 250 feet 

 above the level of the stream. The road then follows for 

 some distance a tributary of Swan Eiver, which runs in a 

 beautiful valley, with alternate slopes of wood-land and 

 prairie. Numbers of horses were quietly feeding on the 

 rich pasture of this valley when we passed, and what 

 with the clumps of trees on the rising grounds, and the 

 stream winding among green meadows, it seemed as if it 

 wanted but the presence of human habitations to give it 



