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round you, that bark, that howl and snarl in turn, are they the im-
patient pack waiting for the signal to start in pursuit of game ? Then
in autumn what a variety, what a number of aquatic birds cover all
these lakes ? Ducks sport themselves in thousands, the swan—that
Jiabitué of all beautiful artificial waters—is there swimming about with
majestic negligence and cooing its mysterious song. Oh yes ! the
prairie is beautiful ; and since we want here only people and homes,
there are certain spots that I would gladly point out to amateurs.
I am not surprised at the impression produced on the tourist
while he experiences the real delights of a summer excursion over
-these plains. Men, whose opinion must have weight, have, perhaps,
occasionally experienced this delightful influence, and have given
& preference to the prairies to which they are not entitled in every
respect. Here comes the end of August. Already cold is threat-
ening ; severe frosts prevent the ripening of cereals and expose them
to complete destruction. At other times a similar result may follow
brought. We are on the skirts of the desert, its scorching winds
rush over the prairie protected by no elevated land. The freezing
wind, little less obstructed on its way from the Arctic regions, combats
with its violent rival, and the prairie, the scene of this struggle, sees
many hurricanes and hail storms very destructive to the crops.
Enormous hail-stones have fallen on the prairie ; over large districts
not only is the hay destroyed but the soil is as it were harrowed.
Then often, too often, the desert sends out its myriad of grasshoppers
over the prairie, and their serried squadrons are devouring pha-
lanxes that do not hesitate to starve the poor settler.
Winter has arrived in the beginning of November and continues
more or less in April, and, Great God ! what winter ! One must
travel iû the midst of these vast plains and camp out during entire
weeks in the midst of these snowy oceans to understand how scarce
wood is there, and yet how necessary it is.
These clumps, these groves, the strip along the banks of the
rivers and of some of the ravines, no doubt, border the space, diver-
sify the scenery, break the horizon, deUght the eye of the tourist
who desires only pleasure, and who contents himself with a tuft of
grass, because it is pleasing to his sight and shelters him, during his
siesta, against the heat of a burning sun. But how aU this beauty
fades ! How it dies with the leaves that it beautifies !
I have travelled on the prairies of the Northern Department, I