300 A JOURNEY TO THE SHORES 



The highest temperature in April was + 40°, the lowest - 32°, 

 the mean + 4.6°. The temperature of the rapid, examined on 

 the 30th by Messrs. Back and Hood, was 32° at the surface, 33° at 

 the bottom. 



On the 7th of May Dr. Richardson returned from his excursion. 

 He informed me that the rein-deer were again advancing to the 

 northward, but that the leader had been joined by several families 

 of old people, and that the daily consumption of provision at the 

 Indian tents was consequently great. This information excited 

 some painful apprehensions of being very scantily provided when 

 the period for our departure should arrive. 



The weather in the beginning of May was fine and warm. On 

 the 2nd some patches of sandy ground near the house were cleared 

 of snow. On the 7th the sides of the hills began to appear bare, 

 and on the 8th a large house-fly was seen. This interesting event 

 spread cheerfulness through our residence and formed a topic of 

 conversation for the rest of the day. 



On the 9th the approach of spring was still more agreeably con- 

 firmed by the appearance of a merganser and two gulls, and some 

 loons, or arctic divers, at the rapid. This day to reduce the labour 

 of dragging meat to the house, the women and children and all the 

 men except four, were sent to live at the Indian tents. 



The blue-berries, crow-berries, eye-berries, and cran-berries, which 

 had been covered, and protected by the snow during the winter, 

 might at this time be gathered in abundance, and proved indeed a 



resource. The ground continued frozen, but the heat of 

 the sun had a visible effect on the vegetation ; the sap thawed in 

 the pine-trees, and Dr. Eichardson informed me that the mosses 

 were beginning to shoot, and that the calyptrae of some of the 

 jungermanniae were already visible. 



On the 11th Mr. Wentzel returned from the Indian lodges, 

 having made the necessary arrangements with Akaitcho for the 



valuable 



