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
February 21, 1833
Seven thirty, -6°R [18.5°F, -7.5°C]. Nice bright weather; sunshine early. We worked at home. At noon, 2°R [36.5°F, 2.5°C]. Very nice sunshine in the afternoon. I went for a walk and in the orchard saw Sylvia sialis and Sitta carolinensis. We packed up, and I settled accounts with Mr. Twigg, [to] whom I paid sixteen dollars twenty-five cents, expenses for the journey to New Orleans. A steamboat coming down from Vincennes was expected, but it is said that there is not enough water for it to pass the Wabash rapids. I visited Mr. Say, who still does not go out, and learned from him that Ferrall’s work was published in England or Ireland.
Mr. Lesueur called on us later that afternoon; he looked at Mr. Bodmer’s drawings. Mr. Twigg gave me some sugarcane from the coast of New Orleans. One kind, which has nice red stripes, is called ribbon cane. Paid a visit that evening to Mr. Say. We examined some beautiful copperplate works, including Swainson’s Illustrations, which include many Brazilian animals in the fourth and the subsequent volume and hence are important for me. The continuation from the third volume on is entitled “Second Series.” Today I also saw for the first time Sturm’s German ornithology; the first two issues contain some very nice illustrations.