440 ASSINNIBOINE AND SASKATCHEWAN EXPEDITION. 



Oak Point is not twelve feet above the level of that ex- 

 tensive bnt shallow sheet of water. 



We camped on the banks of Eat Eiver, and the follow- 

 ing day made a nearly due south course through a rich 

 but treeless prairie to Prairie Portage on the Assinniboine. 

 In making this traverse we passed the shallow, winding, 

 but dry bed of a brook several times, a tributary of 

 Portage Eiver. In wet seasons this bed is occupied with 

 drainage water from the Bad Woods, while Eat Eiver rises 

 within three miles of the Assinniboine in the same loca- 

 lity. The valley of Eat Eiver and of the dry water- 

 course may yet become of vast importance if it should 

 ever happen that the commercial inducements for effecting 

 a communication with the South Branch by way of the 

 Qu'appelle valley, should lead to the construction of 

 works for that purpose. 



On the 31st of August we arrived at Prairie Portage, 

 and reached the settlements at Eed Eiver on the 4th of 

 September, after an absence of nearly three months. Our 

 course from Prairie Portage lay through the prairies 

 already described. * 



* Chapter XIII. 



