More than one half of these caches however had been destroyed by the wolves and wolverines, a circumstance which, in conjunction with the empty state of our storehouse, led us to fear that we should be much straitened for provisions before the arrival of any considerable number of reindeer in this neighbourhood.
A good many ptarmigan were seen at this time and the women caught some in snares, but not in sufficient quantity to make any further alteration in the rations of deers' meat that were daily issued.

They had already been reduced from eight to the short allowance of five pounds.
Many wolves prowled nightly about the house and even ventured upon the roof of the kitchen, which is a low building, in search of food; Keskarrah shot a very large white one, of which a beautiful and correct drawing was made by Mr.Hood.
The temperature in February was considerably lower than in the preceding month although not so low as in December, the mean being minus 25.3 degrees.

The greatest temperature was 1 degree above zero and the lowest 51 degrees below.
On the 5th of March the people returned from Slave Lake bringing the remainder of our stores consisting of a cask of flour, thirty-six pounds of sugar, a roll of tobacco, and forty pounds of powder.

I received a letter from Mr.Weeks wherein he denied that he had ever circulated any reports to our disadvantage, and stated that he had done everything in his power to assist us, and even discouraged Akaitcho from leaving us when he had sent him a message saying that he wished to do so if he was sure of being well received at Fort Providence.
We mentioned the contents of the letter to the Indians who were at the house at the time, when one of the hunters, who had attended the men on their journey, stated that he had heard many of the reports against us from Mr.Weeks himself and expressed his surprise that he should venture to deny them.

St.Germain soon afterwards arrived from Akaitcho and informed us that he left him in good humour and apparently not harbouring the slightest idea of quitting us.
On the 12th we sent four men to Fort Providence, and on the 17th Mr.Back arrived from Fort Chipewyan, having performed since he left us a journey of more than one thousand miles on foot.