their spawn upon the same gravelly shallows. The food of
the whitefish in the lake is partly the worms bred from the eggs of
a large fly resembling the May-fly of the East. This worm has probably
decreased in the upper part of the lake, and therefore the fish go
farther down for food. There they are exceedingly numerous, an
evidence of which is the fact that the Roman Catholic Mission alone
secured 17,000 fine whitefish the previous fall. Properly protected
this lake will be a permanent source of supply to natives and incomers
for many years to come.

Stock-raising was already becoming a feature of the region. Some
three miles above the Heart River is Buffalo Lake, an enlargement
of that stream, and around and above this, as also along the
Wyaweekamon, or "Passage between the Lakes," are immense hay
meadows, capable of winter feeding thousands of cattle. The view
of these vast meadows from the Hudson's Bay post, or from the
Roman Catholic Mission close by, is magnificent.

These buildings are situated above Buffalo Lake, upon a lofty
bank, with the Heart River in the foreground; and the great
meadows, threaded by creeks and inlets, stretching for miles
to the south of them, are one of the finest sights of the kind
in the country.

In the far south was the line of forest, and to the eastward a
flat-topped mountain, called by the Crees Waskahekum Kahassastakee--
"The House Butte." Near this mountain is the Swan River, which joins
the Lesser Slave Lake below the Narrows, and upon which, we were
told, were rich and extensive prairies, and abundance of coal of a
good quality. To the west were the prairies of the Salt River, well
watered by creeks, with a large extent of good land now being settled
on, and where wheat ripens perfectly.

There are other available areas of open country on Prairie River,
which enters Buffalo Lake at its south-western end, and on which
also there is coal, so that prairie land is not entirely lacking.

Though emphatically _now_ a region of forest, there is reason to
believe that vast areas at present under timber were once prairies,
fed over by innumerable herds of buffalo, whose paths and wallows
can still be traced in the woods. Indeed, very large trees are
found growing right across those paths, and this fact, not to speak
of the recollections, or traditions, of very old people, points to
extensive prairies at one time rather than to an entirely wooded
country.

Much of the forest soi