Some convulsion of nature at a
remote period, by raising the waters above their natural level, might have
caused a disruption of the banks, and drained their beds, as they now
appear ready for the ploughshare or the spade. In the month of June these
flats are brilliant with the splendid blossoms of the _enchroma_, or
painted cup, the azure lupine and snowy _trillium_ roses scent the evening
air, and grow as if planted by the hand of taste.
A carpeting of the small downy saxifrage [Footnote: Saxifraga nivalis.] with
its white silky leaves covers the ground in early spring. In the fall, it
is red with the bright berries and dark box-shaped leaves of a species of
creeping winter-green, that the Indians call spiceberry; the leaves are
highly aromatic, and it is medicinal as well as agreeable to the taste and
smell. In the month of July a gorgeous assemblage of martagon lilies take
the place of the lupine and trilliums; these splendid lilies vary from
orange to the brightest scarlet; various species of sunflowers and
_coreopsis_ next appear, and elegant white _pyrolas_ [Footnote: Gentiana
linearis, G.
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