September 27, 1833
On the 27th [of September]: Early in the morning, cold wind; everything was wet, the wind contrary. Before eight o’clock we halted at a sandbar. Elk were bugling. When he left the campsite, Bodmer shot at a big stag out of range; the thickets were too wet for me. A pheasant streaked over our sandbar. At nine o’clock, continuation of the journey. At 9:45, a creek to the right with a waterfall [coming] from a distant prairie, probably the creek where we had been on 12 July when we shot the black finches. Farther on, a buffalo walked through the river. We came close to it, [and] I wounded it with two bullets; [then] my gun misfired, and it escaped, wounded.
At eleven o’clock we were opposite the prairie à la Corne de Cerf [Elkhorn Prairie]. The sky was overcast, the weather very cool. Right after noon, torrential rain; we halted in the forest immediately below the prairie and attempted to build wooden shelters for ourselves. Because these could not be made leakproof, we hung wool blankets and buffalo robes on poles and built an emergency hut. Two big fires were kept burning all day. On the landing area Morrin found six head of chevreuils [deer] and shot one of them, which we ate. We spent a dismal, wet day on this kind of island. The rain lasted until midnight, and [then there were] stars until daybreak.