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
October 27, 1832
State of my health somewhat better. At eight o’clock, temperature of 6 1/3°R [46.3°F, 7.9°C] but rising soon. In the morning Dreidoppel went to Wabash Island, where there are many squirrels. Here he shot a rust-bellied squirrel and an urubu (carrion crow, turkey buzzard) in flight and brought it home alive.
Messrs. Bodmer and Hall had been invited to Mr. Owen’s place for the afternoon and evening. Messrs. Say and Lesueur visited me; the latter brought me a special species of Equisetum, which grows only at a little spot here on the Wabash and gets to be up to six feet high. It is said to occur frequently along the Mississippi, likewise on the islands of the Missouri.