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
January 13, 1833
Early, dreary sky. Everything is covered with snow, [and] it is still snowing. At seven thirty, −1 1/2°R [28.7°F, −1.9°C]. There was heavy snow the entire forenoon, and it does not seem to want to abate snowing today. I prepared mousetraps to take into the fields. Today in Silliman’s journal (The American Journal of Science and the Arts by Benjamin Silliman, vol. 12, no. 2, June 1827), I found a translation of Naumann’s Taxidermie (here the name is spelled “Hanman”) in which it is maintained that it is necessary to stuff amphibians because it is too expensive to preserve them in spirits. But everyone knows how unsatisfactory stuffed amphibians are and that the only good way to preserve these animals in collections is with alcohol or spirits. In the same issue I found an essay on the climate and products of Washington County (“Observations on the Climate and Productions of Washington County, Ohio,” by Dr. S. P. Hildreth, p. 206). There is a discussion of the Pride-of-China tree (probably the china tree, Melia azedarach), which is planted so often in New Orleans and thrives there.
Shortly before noon I took a short walk. It was snowing heavily, and I saw nothing but a crow. I could not do any tracking since the tracks were covered with snow. Individual cakes of ice floated on the blackish Wabash, which glided along in a very picturesque manner between the darkly forested, snow-covered banks. We saw no ducks. In the timber near his house, Mr. Lesueur had shot a hare and Mr. Nohl a bluebird. Today is Sunday, and the residents of Harmony usually go hunting on this day. At twelve o’clock, 1 3/4°R [35.9°F, 2.2°C]. Several residents of Harmony are sledding; others are skating. The sleds have six to eight chairs, always in pairs beside each other, on which an entire group is seated. Two horses are harnessed to the sled.
In the afternoon I went out and set a mousetrap. It was extraordinarily wet in the tall grass and the withered plants. A beautiful female kite (probably Falco cyaneus) skimmed past me. A flock of Alauda magna Linn. was perched on isolated tall trees but did not let us get close to them. I saw two prairie hens, which made a wide sweep for the tall timber. The small birds included Loxia cardinalis, Fringilla hyemalis, Sitta carolinensis, Parus (both species), and several woodpeckers. The weather is mild; the snow will mostly disappear during the night. Visit that evening from Mr. Say.