Four-and-a-Half Months’ Stay in New Harmony
Description of the region – Natural history – Messrs. Say, Lesueur, and Owen – Hunting excursions in Indiana and Illinois – Wabash, Fox River – Illinois prairies – Albion – Black River – Mr. Bodmer’s trip to New Orleans
February 23, 1833
In the morning, bright sky, foggy horizon, sunshine early. At seven thirty, 1°R [34.3°F, 1.3°C]. After breakfast we set out for the Fox River.
The weather was springlike; the high swollen river smooth as a mirror. Everywhere ducks flew up before us. On the Fox River I found Anas sponsa in pairs; almost all the mallards, too, were in pairs. For turkey buzzards this also seems to have been the case since the middle of February. Mr. Bodmer, who continued to the mouth of the Fox River after I had gotten out, saw a large flock of wild turkeys—about fifty of them, he thought—flying over the Wabash. Afterward he sat down to work on a sketch he had begun. We ate lunch at the same place with the two young Frenchmen, the Duclos, who brought us here. Afterward I went part of the way around the island, frequently saw the aforementioned maple with red blossoms (Acer eriocarpum?) blooming, and then returned to the ferry landing, where we gathered before dusk and crossed the choppy river, which was agitated by a strong wind at a very warm temperature. I had seen numerous ducks, but only Mergus merganser; Anas boschas, rufitorques, and sponsa; as well as skeins of teal. Several small birds were singing their spring song. The weather was springlike. At noon the thermometer had registered 11 3/4°R [58.4°F, 14.7°C]. The ground and the foliage in the forest were extremely dry, and it was not easy to stalk game. Russel, the hunter, had brought a mink, a muskrat, an old Mergus cucullatus, and a crow.
Our second collection of natural history specimens, made during the second half of our stay in Harmony, is almost packed. It fills five cases, or a total of eight cases in Harmony. Today, for the first time in a long while, Mr. Say visited us; he had been indisposed for several weeks. In the evening we went over to his place, and there we met the postmaster of Harmony, Monsieur Gex, a Swiss who, thirty years ago, came with a colony of Swiss to the Ohio, where they founded Vevay and other towns and began distilling wine spirits. We talked about the fiber used to bind the grapevines. In the Pays du Vaux, straw is used for this purpose; on the Rhine, red osiers (Salix purpurea); in the gardens, the inner bark of the linden tree; [and] in North America, the inner bark of the pawpaw tree (Annona triloba), which, however, must first have been soaked in water, like flax. When we arrived at home, the wind was raging severely.