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
March 14, 1833
Morning very nice and bright, sunshine. At seven thirty, 2°R [36.5°F, 2.5°C]. We worked at home. At twelve noon, 11 1/3°R [57.5°F, 14.2°C]. Very beautiful weather. At the home of Mr. Say, I saw blooming plants of the Claytonia virginica from the woodlands. In Mr. Say’s garden the thick double narcissus (with vertical stripes along the stems) were nearly in bloom. We saw buds on several trees. Insects were already flying about in great numbers. Bees were swarming. Some early plants, as well as the grass, were sprouting in places. Lines with hooks had been set out to catch turtles, but only a few pike had been caught. The Tinea mellonella, so destructive of bees in Europe and east of the Alleghenies, is not yet known here in Indiana, proof that it came from Europe.
In the evening, a dance at our house. The delightful music began with the big drum at six thirty; the other amenities did not fail to appear. Already that afternoon a large number of backwoodsmen had arrived on horseback to grace the dance with their presence. Because we had not attended the earlier dances, to which we [had] received invitations with various odd distortions of our names, we had not been invited today. The wagon, which had conveyed my things to Mount Vernon, i. e., the seven natural history cases, returned with a letter from the merchants, who demanded one and a half dollars for receipt and loading of the cases [bound] for New Orleans. Fortunately everything had arrived in good condition.
At seven o’clock we visited Mr. Say [for] our next-to-the-last evening in New Harmony after a stay of nearly five months. We spoke much about regions and journeys along the Missouri, and Mr. Say promised me several additional letters to acquaintances in those regions, including particularly the famous marksman Lieutenant Scott, who shoots just as skillfully with the pistol as with the rifle and shotgun. He himself tosses an object into the air and shoots through it with his pistol every time. He is now said to be with the troops in Prairie du Chien. We also talked about the botanical gardens in Philadelphia, and Mr. Say told about a striking feature of the banks of the Delaware near that city. That is, if one cuts down the pine (Pinus rigida) growing there, oaks and some other trees appear, and if one cuts these down, then pines grow up again, and so on. There are said to be interesting plants in those gardens; unfortunately, I have not yet seen them. Mr. Keating brought back some very interesting varieties of cactus from Mexico, including some new species. Bartram’s’ former botanical garden is in the hands of a certain General [——].
As we walked home, the weather was very warm; earlier it had rained. In our house they were dancing fiercely in time with the big drum and diligently fortifying themselves with whiskey.