June 26, 1833
Early in the morning of the 26th packed we sent case No. XIX, which had been packed yesterday, on board the Assiniboine. Hides were still loaded until noon. The morning was beautiful, the day very hot. The Assiniboines took leave and returned to their bands on foot; we saw them filing through the prairie. This manner of traveling, one behind the other in a line, is called Indian file. We had breakfast in the fort; afterward I went out. Soon it became very hot. In a small prairie and in a hollow between the hills, I found several pairs of blackbirds (Quiscalus ferrugineus) in a small bush, and I shot several of them. The big lark (Sturnella) was everywhere, the kingbird too. In the grass, the fox-colored thrush (Turdus rufus); they had a young one that was already grown.
At noon we ate at the ship, which then departed. The entire population of the fort stood along the bank. The cannon had been brought out, and with shots from oth sides producing a loud echo in the opposite range of hills, the Assiniboine first moved upstream past the fort, then turned and swiftly pursued its destination downstream. Mr. Sanford and several employees of the Fur Company left with this boat. We returned to the house, where it [——]. The evening became very pleasant. Already this morning, several hundred paces from the fort, Dreidoppel had shot a pretty little animal, the striped ground squirrel (écureuil suisse), Arctomys hoodii Sab., on the level prairie. In the evening we went there and found many holes in which these little animals live. We walked along the forest above the fort, found about three species of new plants, and could barely ward off the large swarms of mosquitoes (Tipula) that assailed us on the open prairie. Where it was slightly damp, particularly, we heard the plain, rather loud croaking of a frog or toad, which we could not find. The whole prairie was full of bison bones. When we returned home, several Assiniboines had arrived; [they] announced the arrival of about one hundred Indians tomorrow. Some of them were dressed in an interesting manner. Lightning flashed in an easterly direction; warm and calm weather.