On the Physical Character of Rupert District. 351 
stone lie irregular beds of sand and clay of a yellowish 
colour, and on the surface a deep black mould, which, when 
cultivated, forms a rich and fertile soil. These upper beds 
contain no fossiliferous remains ; on the surface are scattered 
a few granitic boulders, but none are found imbedded in the 
drift clay. At Beaver Creek and Pipestone Creek the clay 
drift is deeply cut through in the former to a depth of 
200 feet ; there are here slaty boulder stones, called Pipe- 
stones, and some large bones are reported to have been found, 
probably of cetacean animals. The flora of the district is 
rich and interesting, and from the collection of dried speci- 
mens exhibited, many of the families and some of the species 
common to Scotland may be recognised, as the ranunculus, 
violet, strawberry. 
The buffalo, now becoming scarce in most parts of the 
continent, here exists in large herds, and a spirited drawing 
of one of these herds extending in dark lines and groups in 
the distance, with two bulls in front, gives a good idea of 
the vast multitudes of these animals which congregate in 
those extensive grazing plains. 
" My sketch/' says Major Seton, " is intended to repre- 
sent a scene which I saw 07i Sth August 1858, in lat. 60° 
north, long. 104° ivest. But even to myself my sketch does 
not convey any idea of the numbers of bison presented to 
view on that occasion, for we looked down upon them more 
than in my sketch. On the 7th, as we journeyed along, we 
^came to a few stray outlying bulls, scattered here and there 
dies apart, in the vast plains. These became more nume- 
rous, and might be seen on the low wooded ridges in twos 
and threes, and later on in the day we came to a small 
" band" of bisons, consisting of seven cows and a good many 
(bulls. These we " ran," killing all the cows and a good 
lany of the bulls, and one calf; for such is the practice of 
:he half-bred hunters that they kill all they can. At this 
season the bulls and calf are of no use. Ere the tents were 
)itched and the meat cut and brought to camp, night 
lad set in. Next morning we rode to the summit of a 
slight ridge, about three miles from the camp, and there saw 
diat I have endeavoured to represent in the sketch. Com- 
