24 



NORTH AMERICAN FAUNA. 



-[NO. 27. 



From the confluence of the Finla}^ and the Parsnip, the Peace Aoays 

 in a general easterly direction for some 300 miles to its junction with 

 the Smoky, falling in this distance a little less than 800 feet. The 

 country through which it flows may be considered as a plateau, in 

 which it has excavated a rather deep valley. A number of streams. 

 Pine River from the south being one of the largest, discharge their 

 waters into it. Back from the river the country is mainly level or 

 rolling, and is thinly wooded. 



Smoky River is the largest tributary of the Peace. Its principal 

 branches rise on the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains, and it 

 drains a large extent of thinly wooded and prairie country. 



Below the mouth of the Smoky the Peace turns and pursues a 

 Avinding though general northerly course nearh^ to Fort Vermilion. 

 It is bordered at first by steep sandstone cliffs, but its valley gradu- 

 ally becomes wider and shallower. Extensive plains, comparatively 

 level and clothed with grass or a sparse growth of poplars, border 

 it on both sides. North of Fort Vermilion this character of country 

 is said to extend to the valleys of Hay and Buffalo rivers. The coun- 

 try betAveen Peace RiA-er and Great SlaA^e Lake, howcA^er, is A^er}^ im- 

 perfectly knoAvn. 



Between Fort Vermilion and the Peace- Athabaska Delta the Peace 

 is very broad and contains man}^ wooded islands. Red and Loon 

 rivers, coming from the south, are its principal tributaries. The 

 country drained by them has been alluded to briefly in describing the 

 Athabaska. (Seep. 19.) Vermilion Falls, a formidable rapid, inter- 

 rupts navigation a short distance above the mouth of Red River, and 

 another, usually called the ' Little Rapid,' occurs at some distance 

 beloAV. 



The Quatre Fourches, an offshoot of the Peace, connects that stream 

 Avith Athabaska Lake, and a few miles beloAv, Rocher RiA^er also joins 

 the Peace. These streams traA^erse the Peace- Athabaska Delta, and 

 their currents run to or from Peace River, being dependent on the 

 relative heights of the Avater in Peace River and Athabaska Lake. 

 (See p. 93.) The delta is a A^ast marsh, partially Avoocled with poplars 

 and willoAvs and studded Avith hundreds of reedy lakes. 



BeloAY the delta the combined stream, here called the Slave, turns 

 abruptly nortliAvard and floAvs for a distance of about TO miles in a 

 general northerly direction to the Smith Rapids. It is a broad, 

 rather deep stream Avith a moderate current, and its low banks are 

 well Avooded Avith spruce, poplar, and aa^IHoav. It receiA^es in this 

 stretch no tributaries of importance, but drains many outlying 

 marshes. In latitude 60° it cuts through " a gneissic spur from the 

 Laurentian district to the east," forming the Smith Rapids, some 16 

 miles in length. Below^ here it floAVs in a rather irregular manner 

 for about 175 miles in a general northwesterly direction to Great 



