76 ASSINXIB01NE AND SASKATCHEWAN EXPEDITION. 



eighteen inches before a storm. Canoes left in calm 

 weather on a beach high and dry are not mrfrequently 

 washed away when a strong south or north wind sets in, 

 and it often happens that, even before the approach of a 

 change in the direction of the wind is indicated by 

 clonds, the water of the lakes show by rising the opera- 

 tion of a distant pressure which has not yet manifested 

 itself at the point of observation. The Indians and half- 

 breeds in the fall of the year, when winds are variable, 

 frequently notice the mouths of streams or rude registers, 

 such as a stone set up by themselves on the beach, to see 

 if any indications are afforded of a change in the wind, 

 not appreciable by any other means. 



In 1823 Mr. Keating, in his narrative of Major Long's 

 Expedition to the sources of St. Peter's Eiver, described 

 the effects of winds on the waters of Lake Winnipeg 

 taking place at the mouth of the Winnipeg Eiver, as 

 foUows : — " A question which has been much discussed 

 by travellers, is that of the supposed periodical rises in 

 the lakes ; we do not propose to take part in the discus- 

 sion at present, but we may state that we observed at 

 Fort Alexander an appearance, such as has probably more 

 than once been mistaken for the effect of a tide. 



" On our arrival we pitched our tents upon a sort of 

 wharf projecting into the river, and elevated about two 

 feet above the level of the water. In the afternoon a 

 very high wind blew from the lake and accumulated the 

 waters in the bay, so as to cause them to overflow the 

 wharf and oblige us to remove our tents. The next 

 morning the waters had subsided to their former level." 



The splendid prairies bordering on the southern shores 

 of Lake Manitobah may be said to begin at Oak Point. 

 Their boundary is an imaginary line extending south- 

 easterly towards the Indian Settlement on Ked Eiver on 



