For many miles the surface of the land looked black, in consequence of the prairie fires that had burnt the grass, during the latter part of the autumn. On the eastern borders, near the rivers, we passed some scattered villages, chiefly occupied by emigrants of Welsh or Scandinavian origin; but towards the interior the land was too wet and exposed for the purposes of cultivation. Here and there, on the plains, we saw the lonely huts of adventurous squatters, who obtained a precarious living by supplying the wants of those who passed near them, on their way towards the South. At one of these dwellings situated upon the open plain, twenty miles from the nearest village, we halted after a long journey over a dreary country, forming the watershed of the streams that flowed east or west into the valleys of the Missouri and Mississippi. The hut was occupied by a man, who, with his wife and family, had been settled in this remote region for several years. As there was no timber to be obtained in the neighbourhood, he had built the walls of his house with wide, thick slabs of turf, which made a good protection against the storms of winter. He possessed one hundred and fifty acres of land, of which he only cultivated the small portion he had been able to preserve from the ravages of prairie fires. The difficulty of guarding the homestead against this danger, had caused him to feel much anxiety, but he said that he had, at last, discovered an effectual method of preventing any damage being caused, as far as his crops and buildings were concerned. He saw upon one occasion, that the grass was burning on the verge of the southern horizon, and the flames appeared to be advancing rapidly in the direction of his farm. It occurred to him to try the plan of running two plough furrows in parallel lines between the edge of his land and the approaching fire. He made them about twenty yards apart, and then burnt the grass, thus leaving a bare space of blackened earth. The flames advanced upon their onward course, destroying everything before them until they reached the outer furrow, when they were stopped by there not being any grass for fuel, and as they could not leap over the intervening space, the fire passed to the right and left, leaving the farm in the centre untouched. The prairie around this squatter’s home, was wild and dreary. The track led us over a region which had been shaped into hollows and undulations, caused by the action of numberless streams and rivulets which had cut their way in all directions. There were also many small depressions which contained pools of water. We observed in all these ponds numerous erratic boulders of various sizes. The majority of them were small, but others were of considerable magnitude, and must have weighed from fifteen to twenty tons. They were usually composed of red, green, and dark grey granites, similar to those I had seen on the surface of the country to the south-west of Lake Superior.