270 
Canadian Agriculture. 
was of the usual rich character — mingled woods, rolling prairies, and lakes 
and streams — except for one day's journey, when we crossed a bleak and barren 
tract. This was a level plain, backed by an amphitheatre of bare, rugged 
hills. But beyond this, at a place called the Source, from a river which springs 
out of tlie ground there, the country resumed its former character."* 
Nor are these intrepid travellers less enthusiastic in their 
description of the regions they penetrated after leaving Fort 
Pitt and moving westward towards Edmonton : — 
"We now entered a most glorious country' — not indeed grandly picturesque, 
but rich and beautiful : a country of rolling hills and fertile valleys, of lakes 
and streams, groves of birch and aspen, and miniature prairies ; a land ot 
a kindly soil, and full of promise to the settler to come in future years, when 
nu enlightened policy shall open out the wealth now uncared-for or un- 
known." f 
The system of survey adopted in the North- West Territories, 
and carried out by the Dominion Land Surveyors, is very com- 
plete, and so simple that a few letters and figures serve to indi- 
cate any given area without the least risk of ambiguity. 
"The entire country is laid off in townships 6 miles square, containing 36 
sections of 640 acres each, which are again subdivided into quarter sections of 
160 acres. A road allowance, having a width of 1 chain, is provided for on 
each section-line running north and .'^outh, and on everj' alternate section-line 
running east and west. The following diagram shows a township with the 
isections numbered : — 
3] 
32 
33 
34 
35 
30 
30 
29 
28 
r. 
2C 
25 
10 
20 
21 
22 
23 
24 
IS 
17 
IG 
15 
14 
13 
7 
8 
0 
10 
11 
J2 
6 
5 
4 1 
! 
2 
1 
* 'The North-West Passage by Land,' p, 172. 
t Ilnd. p. 178. 
