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
December 24, 1832
Early in the morning, dreary, overcast sky. No more frost. At seven thirty, 2°R [36.5°F, 2.5°C]. Last evening we talked at great length with Mr. Say about Indians and various kinds of travel accounts of North America. Mr. Say named several that I did not yet know, including the works of Duponceau (in Philadelphia) about the Indian languages of North America.
Mr. Say gave me the clay nest of a local variety of wasp. The nest, which has several cells in which the larvae live, is attached by the insect to steep walls.
Today the first prairie hens (Tetrao cupido) were offered to me for sale, but [they were] too expensive. Mr. Bodmer saw a flock of these birds from the window and quickly reached for his shotgun. At twelve o’clock, temperature of 3 3/4°R [40.4°F, 4.7°C]. A backwoodsman, who had ridden 12 miles, brought us a fine lynx (Felis canadensis Geoffr. Desm.), for which I paid two dollars. Another man brought me a beautifully preserved female prairie hen (Tetrao cupido), for which I paid twenty-five cents. The lynx was nice but extraordinarily slender and thin-bellied; apparently it had not caught any prey for a long time (see Natural History Notebook, p. 116). An hour later Russel, the hunter, appeared with eight turkeys and a splendid eagle (Aquila gray eagle), which he had shot from a tree with his rifle. These three creatures—the lynx, the eagle, and the prairie hen—were given to me as a gift on Christmas Eve, just as is done for children in Germany.
As soon as it grew dark, Christmas Eve was welcomed with heavy charges of powder by the young people on the streets of Harmony. This unpleasant surprise took place directly beneath our windows. Otherwise, however, there is no trace here of an observation of these days, because there is no church; only by drinking, hunting, singing, and dancing does the wild and somewhat coarse population of this area celebrate the most solemn festivals of Christendom. In the evening Mr. Lesueur visited us. His foot has grown worse again; he can scarcely walk.
