R E D II I V E R OF THE NORT H. 



173 



The country bordering on this part of Red Eiver is quite picturesque. A sloping 

 prairie extends down to the river, crested with beautifully disposed groves of timber, 

 the foliage of which, at the season we were there, was of the freshest and deepest 

 green. The subjoined view represents the features of this landscape. 



RED RIVER OF THE NORTH, BELOW OTTER TAIL LAKE. 



The river soon winds, in a westerly course, for about four miles, between banks of 

 drift, from fifty to seventy feet high, forming several swift rapids, and again 

 meanders through the same kind of fine, open, rolling prairie, with groves of timber. 

 A number of white granitic boulders are scattered here and there on the elevated 

 swells of the prairie, some of which, in the distance, might be mistaken, in a settled 

 country, for small dwellings. Near the foot of a short rapid, where the river makes a 

 bend to the northwest, I discovered the first ledges of limestone which I saw in place 

 since entering Red River. They might easily be overlooked, since they protruded 

 but slightly from under the sod of the prairie, two to three feet above the bed of 

 the river. The lower layers are a magnesian limestone, of a light buff colour, with 

 brownish stains. The upper layers are composed of a purer calcareous rock, resem- 

 bling, in lithological appearance, specimens obtained by Dr. Shumard in the drift of 

 the St. Peter's. Both contain impressions of fossils, but these are most abundant 

 in the upper layers. Among them, I recognised an undetermined species of Del- 

 thyris, an Ortlus like the Testudinaria, a Leptmna like the Sericea, and a turbinated 

 coral. The fossils are casts, which fact makes it difficult to determine the species 

 positively ; but I feel satisfied, that the formation belongs to the Lower Silurian 

 system, of the old continent. 



A short distance below this, in running rapids which are usually avoided by a 

 portage, we met with the accident to our canoe, and loss of part of our provisions, 

 as mentioned in the Introduction. 



Whilst the men were repairing the hole in our canoe, the clouds cleared away 

 sufficiently to get a series of observations of the sun's altitude, which gave for the 

 mean local time 2 h. 54' 53-76", and the estimated latitude 46° 13' 24". 



