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.
