LOW WATER-PARTINGS. 



435 



the appearance of a highly cultivated country. The 

 Hudson's Bay Company keep a guard here to take care 

 of the numerous horses attached to their establishment of 

 Fort Pelly." 



A very low and narrow dividing ridge separates the 

 waters of the Assinniboine from those of Swan Eiver, 

 affording another instance of the remarkable character of 

 the water-partings and of the uniform inclination of the 

 great prairie-plains of Eupert's Land. Miry Creek which 

 flows into Snake Creek, an affluent of Swan Eiver, is not 

 more than three miles from the Assinniboine. The one 

 river running far south along the edge of the escarpment 

 which forms the abrupt north-eastern boundary of these 

 table lands, the other breaking through it at right angles 

 and reaching the Winnipeg by a course which curiously 

 enough, has the same direction and turnings on the east 

 side as its counterpart has on the west. A bateau or 

 canoe may descend the Assinniboine from Fort Pelly and 

 reach Lake Winnipeg by Eed Eiver ; a bateau or canoe 

 may also descend Miry Creek in the spring and passing 

 down Swan Eiver reach Lake Winnipeg by the Little 

 Saskatchewan or Dauphin Eiver. 



On the 26 th August we set out on our return to the 

 settlements, taking the trail on the east bank of the Assin- 

 niboine. Our route lay on the flanks of the Duck and 

 Eiding Mountains, and through a country admirably 

 adapted for farming purposes. On the morning of the 

 27th the herbage was covered with hoar frost, but with- 

 out any injury to vegetation. Ponds and lakes are very 

 numerous on the flanks of the Eiding Mountain, but as 

 far as our opportunities enabled us to judge, the whole 

 country, with the exception of narrow ridges, possesses 

 a rich black fertile mould, supporting very luxuriant 



F F '2 



