f the latter article, and had sent
several of our own men to the woods to search for it. At this time I
communicated to Mr. Wentzel the mode in which I meant to conduct the
journey of the approaching summer. Upon our arrival at the sea, I
proposed to reduce the party to what would be sufficient to man two
canoes, in order to lessen the consumption of provisions during our
voyage, or journey along the coast; and as Mr. Wentzel had expressed a
desire of proceeding no farther than the mouth of the Copper-Mine River,
which was seconded by the Indians, who wished him to return with them, I
readily relieved his anxiety on this subject; the more so as I thought
he might render greater service to us by making deposits of provision at
certain points, than by accompanying us through a country which was
unknown to him, and amongst a people with whom he was totally
unacquainted. My intentions were explained to him in detail, but they
were of course to be modified by circumstances.

On the 14th a robin (_turdus migratorius_) appeared; this bird is hailed
by the natives as the infallible precursor of warm weather. Ducks and
geese were also seen in numbers, and the rein-deer advanced to the
northward. The merganser, (_mergus serrator_,) which preys upon small
fish, was the first of the duck tribe that appeared; next came the teal,
(_anas crecca_,) which lives upon small insects that abound in the
waters at this season; and lastly the goose, which feeds upon berries
and herbage. Geese appear at Cumberland House, in latitude 54 deg., usually
about the 12th of April; at Fort Chipewyan, in latitude 59 deg., on the 25th
of April; at Slave Lake, in latitude 61 deg., on the 1st of May; and at Fort
Enterprise, in latitude 64 deg. 28', on the 12th or 14th of the same month.

On the 16th a minor chief amongst the Copper Indians, attended by his
son, arrived from Fort Providence to consult Dr. Richardson. He was
affected with snow-blindness, which was soon relieved by the dropping of
a little laudanum into his eyes twice a day. Most of our own men had
been lately troubled with this complaint, but it always yielded in
twenty or thirty hours to the same remedy.

On the 21st all our men returned from the Indians, and Akaitcho was on
his way to the fort. In the afternoon two of his young men arrived to
announce his visit, and to request that he might be received with a
salute and other marks of respect that he had been accustomed to on
visiting Fo