On the 11th Mr. Wentzel returned from the Indian lodges having made the necessary arrangements with Akaitcho for the drying of meat for summer use, the bringing fresh meat to the fort and the procuring a sufficient quantity of the resin of the spruce fir, or as it is termed by the voyagers gum, for repairing the canoes previous to starting and during the voyage.  By my desire he had promised payment to the Indian women who should bring in any of 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 reindeer 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 degrees usually about the 12th of April; at Fort Chipewyan in latitude 59 degrees on the 25th of April; at Slave Lake in latitude 61 degrees on the 1st of May; and at Fort Enterprise in latitude 64 degrees 28 minutes 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 Fort Providence in the spring.  I complied with his desire although I regretted the expenditure of ammunition and sent the young man away with the customary present of powder to enable him to return the salute, some tobacco, vermilion to paint their faces, a comb and a looking-glass.