478 ASSINNIBOINE AND SASKATCHEWAN EXPEDITION. 



very short time by a stormy sea. The gale soon veered 

 round to the north increasing to a perfect hurricane, and 

 during the day the lake was white in all directions with 

 breakers and foam. A heavy surf breaking along the 

 coast and tearing away large portions of the bank on 

 which we were camped, warned us to move our canoe 

 and lading back from the shore ; yet, notwithstanding 

 every precaution, some of our paddles and poles were 

 swept away during the night. A large marsh being in 

 our rear we could retire but a few yards from the raging 

 lake to wait for the abatement of the storm. 



August 27th. — After midnight the wind began to 

 decrease gradually, and by daybreak it had so far sub- 

 sided as to permit us to continue our voyage. By break- 

 fasting at a point where we found an outcrop of lime- 

 stone I was enabled to procure some fossils. This, the 

 first rock exposure observed since leaving the Saskat- 

 chewan, is apparently the termination of a ridge running at 

 right angles to the coast-line, and bounded on either side 

 by marsh and swamp. The top of the rock is ten feet 

 above the surface of the lake, and is covered by a stratum 

 of boulders and drift two feet in thickness, supporting 

 small poplar, tamarack, spruce, birch, and Banksian pine ; 

 there are only six feet of the limestone exhibited, the 

 remaining four feet being concealed by a talus of boulders 

 and debris. The high water-mark of the lake reaches to 

 the top of the talus. 



A contrary wind arising about noon detained us four 

 hours at the mouth of a creek, which we ascended a short 

 distance. The entrance, or where the creek cuts through 

 the sand-beach enclosing a marsh, is one chain wide ; 

 within the sand-beach the creek expands into a deep pond 

 thirty chains in diameter, surrounded by a marsh ; this 

 pond is fed by the inner portion of the creek, a broad and 



