264 ASSINNIBOINE AND SASKATCHEWAN EXPEDITION. 



with boulders, one lower than the other. The hills are 

 parallel to the general trend of the escarpment, and 

 stand out as bold eminences, showing the extent of the 

 denudation which gave rise to them. These ranges of 

 conical hills correspond with terraces on the west side of 

 the mountain. They are the result of the same denuding 

 forces which have left their impress upon the west flank, 

 and were formed by the unequal wearing away of the 

 more exposed eastern flank, at the time when the ter- 

 races on the opposite and sheltered side were in process 

 of arrangement. 



I estimated the summit of Bear Hill, one of the most 

 prominent of the conical hills separated from the edge of 

 the escarpment by a deep valley, at 800 feet above Lake 

 Winnipeg ; if to this altitude we add 628 feet, the height 

 of Lake Winnipeg above the sea, the elevation of the 

 first terrace below the summit of the mountain, will be 

 about 1,428 feet. This altitude corresponds in a re- 

 markable manner with the sand bank on the Great Dog 

 Portage, 500 miles distant in an air line from Bear Hill. 

 The second tier of conical hills stands upon the second 

 terrace from the summit, and is probably continuous 

 with the Pembina Mountain. 



SAND HILLS AND DUNES. 



The most extensive of these unstable ranges are de- 

 scribed in the narrative. 



It is needless to remark that the region they occupy is 

 almost absolutely barren. Many of the hills and dunes 

 are continually exposing fresh surfaces, sometimes beauti- 

 fully ripple marked. The probability of their being the 

 remains of tertiary deposits, is noticed in a subsequent 

 chapter. The following are the most extensive ranges : — 



1. Sand hills and dunes of the Assinniboine, extending 



