43 



CHAP. XXV. 



FROM WINNIPEGO-SIS LAKE TO THE SUMMIT OF THE RIDING 

 MOUNTAIN, AND THE SUMMIT OF THE RIDING MOUNTAIN 

 TO MANITOB AH HOUSE. 



Character of the Country. — The Duck Mountain. — The Salt Springs. — The 

 Wells. — The Manufacture of Salt. — Salt Springs and Lagoons.— Moss 

 River. — Rapids. — Character of River. — Valley or Dauphin River. — The 

 Riding Mountain. — Lake Ridge. — Hay Ground. —Dauphin Lake. — Pike.— 

 Snow Birds. — Journey to the Summit of the Riding Mountain. — Marshes. 

 — Ridges. — Character of the Country. — Whisky Jack. — Quaking Bog. — 

 Pitching Track. — Rabbits. — Foot of Mountain. — Cretaceous Rocks. — 

 Terraces. — Conical Hills. — White Spruce. — Brown-nosed Bear. — Summit 

 of the Riding Mountain. — Former Character of the Riding Mountain. — 

 Denudation. — Table Land. — Snow Storm. — Source of the Rapid River. 

 — Indian Superstition. — Descent of Riding Mountain. — Character of the 

 Mountain. — Fish. — Sickness. — Cupping. — Ta-wa-pit. — Great Bones. — 

 Grasshoppers. — Journey from Dauphin Lake to Lake Manitobah. — Cha- 

 racter of the Country. — Bogs. — Aspen Ridges. — Ridge Pitching Track. — 

 Ebb and Flow Lake. — Indian Tent — Interior of. — Supper. — Sleep. — 

 Buffalo Runner. — Manitobah House. 



The surface of the country where the Salt Springs are 

 found is only a few feet above the level of Winnipego-sis 

 Lake, and apparently nearly horizontal for many miles 

 inland, on a north-west course. The barren area occupied 

 by the springs and wells is about ten acres in extent, but 

 the open country, with points of surrounding forest con- 

 verging towards the springs, may include several hundred 

 acres. The trees in the vicinity consist of spruce, aspen, 

 willow, birch, and a few stunted oak. The wells are five 

 feet deep, and the water in them was two feet five inches 

 above the level of the lake on the 5th of October, as 



