38 ASSINNIBOINE AND SASKATCHEWAN EXPEDITION. 



yet Fairford will become an important centre. We were 

 supplied with potatoes, onions, turnips, fresh bread, and 

 butter, and otherwise most hospitably entertained by Mr. 

 and Mrs. Stagg. 



The Hon. Hudson's Bay Company have a post at this 

 mission, but it is matter of deep regret that the heathen 

 Indians who come to barter their furs here should be 

 permitted to have access to rum. The little fleet of 

 canoes before spoken of, arrived during the evening, and 

 at nightfall the sounds of drunken revelry told how 

 terribly the debasing influence of this traffic must operate 

 against the Christian and humanizing influence of the 

 missionary. The post had been but recently established, 

 and the distribution of intoxicating liquors to the Indians 

 appeared to be a subject of deep anxiety and trouble to 

 the Eev. Mr. Stagg. 



We reached the mouth of the river at noon on the last 

 day of September, and entered Lake Manitobah with a 

 head wind, which soon compelled a retreat to a low shel- 

 tered beach. The exposed aspens were now quite yellow, 

 but a tint of green still remained on groves at some 

 distance from the lake shore. Large boulders are piled 

 up high upon the beach, and behind them is the unfail- 

 ing marsh. In shallow bays limestone gravel forms a 

 sloping beach to the water's edge, but in the rear is a 

 marsh. It is only at the headlands that rock in position, 

 or firm soil, has been seen as yet. 



In the afternoon we set sail, and arrived at Flat Eock 

 Bay, where limestone of Devonian age is seen on the 

 south side. Some of the layers are highly fossiliferous, 

 and hold numbers of Atrypa reticularis and A. aspera. 

 The stems of crinoids are common, but the species are 

 very few. The rock is nearly horizontal, and the general 

 dip south-west, at a very small angle but many slight 



