July 2, 1833
Early in the morning, clear sky, beautiful weather. At 7:30, [— —]. Last night Dreidoppel had shot several birds, including Caprimulgus americanus, which is numerous here; Sylvia aestiva (common); and the blue finch with the reddish brown throat and upper breast, which Bonaparte portrayed under the name Fringilla amoena. Say described it under the name Emberiza amoena and says it is rare. In the vicinity of Fort Union and only a few days’ travel farther downstream, it is not uncommon, and we often saw this finch. At 7:30, 53°F [11.7°C]. Bodmer and Dreidoppel rode to the hills to look for a view of the fort to make sketches. They took their guns along, and the interpreter accompanied them. One never trusts the Indians; because of war parties, it is always dangerous in the vicinity of the fort. I also went onto the prairie, where I again saw the swallows flying high and found a large Muscicapa, probably tyrannus. Some of the Assiniboines had left.
One saw the round circles surrounded with sod where the [tipis] had stood and beside them a small place where the sod had been removed. The light-vermilion or almost miniaceous [— —] is the most common plant that grows over the entire prairie. Since it was very warm, all the plants growing there had a dry appearance today. Several persons from the fort went into the woods along [the] shore to collect a plant there that is eaten as a vegetable. At 11:30 the horsemen returned; they had visited a hill with a spacious view, where one can see the confluence of the Missouri with the Yellowstone. Mr. Bodmer made a sketch of this entire view. Dreidoppel brought back three species of plants from the tops of the dry hills [— —]. The last one was new to me. At one o’clock, 72°F [22.2°C]; Mr. McKenzie’s thermometer indicated 71°F [21.7°C]. In the afternoon we caught sight of our keelboat in the distance.
In the evening we undertook a walk to the prairie hills about a mile behind the fort. They consist of clay and argillite, but scattered all over them are pebbles, flint, slate, and similar stones rolled down by the water. We discovered beautiful plants, but only a few in bloom. The bright yellow [— —], resembling Helianthus, was now blooming all over the prairie, as [was] the Cactus that is called opuntia in the botanical books about North America but which seems to me to be a different species. Its flowers have not actually vividly yellow, but [a] pale yellowish, occasionally a dirty reddish color, [and are] whitish when they unfold. Cactus mammillaris, which grows here, is also now in bloom. We found several species of plants. In a shallow green hollow between two hills, we found the large Numenius but could not get it yet. The view from these hills is very beautiful: the fort, the [tipis] of the Assiniboines, and the interesting mountain chain with the river looked very beautiful in the evening light; in addition to [all this] there was a rainbow in dark clouds. The mosquitoes (Tipula) tormented us not a little on the prairie; one hopes, nevertheless, that they will not reach their highest intensity this summer, because the streams and ponds were not very high. We frequently found burrows of the small striped susliks but saw none of these cute animals. When we returned home, the keelboat had arrived. The evening was warm and very pleasant. So we will probably depart in a few days.