BOTANICAL SOCIETY OF CANADA. 
29 
Next day, at noon, we arrived at Wild Rice River (so named from the abund- 
ant growth of tall grasses), and this had stopped the fire. Crossing this river, we 
travelled through a country with more timber than the last, and the surface of the 
prairie covered with boulders for many miles. At the next river — Buffalo River — 
the country became again very hilly, the hills inclosing innumerable beautiful little 
fresh water lakes, bordered as usual with oak. This continued to Detroit Lake, 
where the country became very rocky and densely wooded with oak, ash, beech, 
maple, poplar, and here, for the first time, we saw pine and spruce. At this lake 
we met a party of Ojibway Indians, with whom we exchanged courtesies, they giv- 
ing us some fish, and receiving in return tea, sugar and tobacco. After remaining 
with us till ten o'clock, carrying on a rather unsatisfactory conversation by signs 
and illustrations in the sand, eating all that we could give them and stealing our tin 
cups and hatchets, they finally went off to their lodge. They were here catching fish 
for their winter's provisions with gill nets, and seemed to be taking them very rapid- 
ly. This lake, like all the lakes in this region, abounds in many kinds of fish, among 
which are whitefish, pickerel, perch, pike, and a little fish called goldeyes. 
Leaving this lake, the Trail passes through many miles of dense woods, consist- 
ing chiefly of oak, and other hard woods. In these woods, and southward, is found 
the Ginseng {Aralia quinquefolia). Crossing Otter Tail River, Rush Lake, and 
some small streams, we finally arrived at civilization again, in the shape of a collec- 
tion of a dozen of houses, named in Minnesota maps Otter Tail City, and inhabited 
by travellers who purchase the fars of the Chippeways. After taking dinner here 
at a two-roomed hotel, for which we paid two dollars, we left the city, and crossed 
Leaf Mountain, the height of land or apex of the two great water sheds of the Red 
River and Mississippi valleys. Here, as on the rest of the route, the prevailing tim- 
ber was pine and spruce, with occasional tamarac swamps. The Trail here follows 
down the course of Leaf River till it empties into the Crow Wing River, Here the 
Trail ended, and, crossing this river in a scow, we had now a bridged road, forty-five 
miles, to the little town of Crow Wing, where we arrived on the second of Novem- 
ber, completing a trip of something over four hundred miles in fifteen days. At 
this place we left our horses, and took stages, 150 miles, to the city of St. Paul, and 
fi-om thence by Mississippi boat and railroad to Canada. 
I may mention here that in St. Paul I noticed several barrels of Ginseng root, 
which had been collected by Indians and others, and was intended for export from 
New York or elsewhere to China. This American Ginseng is the Aralia quinque- 
folia^ a different species, it is believed, from the Chinese one, but nevertheless 
highly esteemed in that country. It is said to be used there as a medicine in cases 
of debility, but its medicinal properties are not so highly esteemed in this country. 
Its uses in China must be very extensive, as, independent of the Ginseng obtained 
in China, and the enormous quantities exported from America, imports are regis- 
