OF THE POLAR SEA. 227 



produces, with little trouble, ample returns 

 of wheat, barley, oats, and potatoes. The 

 ground is prepared for the reception of 

 these vegetables, about the middle of April, 

 and when Dr. Richardson visited this place 

 on May 10th, the blade of wheat looked 

 strong and healthy. There were only five 

 acres in cultivation at the period of my 

 visit. The prospect from the fort must be 

 pretty in summer, owing to the luxuriant 

 verdure of this fertile soil ; but in the uni- 

 form and cheerless garb of winter, it has 

 little to gratify the eye. 



Beyond the steep bank behind the house, 

 commences the vast plain, whose boundaries 

 are but imperfectly known ; it extends 

 along the south branch of the Saskatcha- 

 wan, and towards the sources of the Mis- 

 souri and Asseenaboine rivers, being scarcely 

 interrupted through the whole of this great 

 space by hills, or even rising grounds. 

 The excellent pasturage furnishes food in 

 abundance to a variety of grazing animals, 

 of which the buffalo, red-deer, and a species 

 of antelope, are the most important. Their 

 q 2 



