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 confirmed 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 blueberries, crow-berries, eye-berries, and cranberries, which had been covered and protected by the snow during the winter might at this time be gathered in abundance and proved indeed a valuable resource.

The ground continued frozen but the heat of the sun had a visible effect on vegetation; the sap thawed in the pine-trees and Dr.Richardson informed me that the mosses were beginning to shoot and the calyptrae of some of the jungermanniae already visible.
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.