“Of the whole of this extensive plateau land, extending from the valley of the Nelson river westward to near Burntwood and Wekusko lakes (west longitude 90° 45′), northerly to beyond latitude 56°, and southerly to the limestone escarpment, an area of ABOUT TEN THOUSAND SQUARE MILES, it may be said to be characterized by a heavy clay soil entirely free from boulders. Lacustrine clays, composed of the rock flour once held in suspension by glacial streams and deposited by them as they reached the quiet waters of a great lake, are essentially the soils of this region. There is no distinct surface soil clearly separable from the clay subsoil; the one merges gradually into the other, the clayey character of the soil being strongly apparent at the very surface where merely the shallow cover of decaying leaves and other vegetation is scraped away. Generally, for from five inches to over a foot down, the clay is deep brown in colour from the admixture of vegetable matter, and quite friable, and rootlets of even the smaller surface vegetation reach down far below this level, though on the tops of many of the ridges the light-buff coloured clay, without any appreciable coloration from vegetable matter, comes quite to the surface. The rolling character of the plateau generally provides fair drainage, but over considerable areas in its central portion, far from the valleys of the larger streams, there are large tracts that have not sufficient gradients for the proper flow of the surface water, and which could be made available for agricultural uses only by being artificially drained. The western limit of the good country is about longitude 99° 45′.” [Illustration: Portage on Moose river.] Mr. McInnes reports that the country lying to the south of Reed and Wekusko lakes, and stretching to Saskatchewan valley, contains very few tracts of land suitable for settlement. Practically only the river valleys, a few tracts adjoining some of the lakes, and parts of some of the slopes flanking the limestone ridges, can be considered as affording land suitable for cultivation. The upland is generally almost bare of soil, flat-lying limestones forming its actual surfaces, and the slopes, though covered to a good depth by clay, are for the most part too bouldery for tillage. Limited tracts occur here and there, suitable for individual holdings notably near some of the principal lakes. Of the agricultural possibilities of the country south of Reed and Wuskwatim lakes, Mr. McInnes writes:—“Experimentally but little is known of its capabilities, though we have instances here and there throughout the area, to beyond its northerly limit, of the cultivation of all sorts of garden vegetables, including, at The Pas, TOMATOES AND INDIAN CORN.