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 4, 1833
In the morning, slightly overcast sky, light frost. At seven thirty, 2 1/2°R [26.4°F, 3.1°C]. We worked at home. At noon, 3 3/4°R [40. 4°F, 4.7°C]. Mr. Say told me various local tales about snakes. For example, one about the glass snake that breaks into pieces when it is firmly grasped; if the pieces are put back together, they unite again. Also one about a horn snake, which is said to have a horn or stinger in its tail. It is said to take this into its mouth and roll along like a hoop. If it then passes a tree, it thrusts the stinger into it and the tree dies.
Mr. Say was once with Rubens Peale, who told him there was a man with just such a snake, so that the matter was beyond doubt. Mr. Say called in the man, who had the very well-wrapped tail end of Ophisaurus ventralis. Mr. Say, who immediately recognized it, asked the man if he would die if he put the stinger under his skin, and the answer was yes. Then he punctured his skin and bored around in it with the tail end of the animal, but he did not die. The man who claimed to have seen the effect of the stinger himself made all kinds of excuses; he blamed everything on his neighbors, from whom he had heard the whole story. Here, as in most regions of the world, most people believe that snakes sting with their tails and tongues, and here they also believe this to be true of lizards.
In the afternoon I went out. The air was warm, the ground soft and muddy. Everywhere in the cornfields I still found snow in spots. Along a ditch running through one of the fields, where ducks like to rest, I saw only woodpeckers (Picus auratus and carolinus) and shot a song sparrow (Fringilla melodia). On the Cutoff River I saw some ducks and a pair of Mergus cucullatus [and] winged the beautiful, perfect male with a white crest. The water level in the river has fallen and ice now floats on it. I also wounded a turkey buzzard, which, unfortunately, I did not retrieve, since I could not follow it across the river. Mr. Bodmer later crossed the river to search for the bird I had wounded.
Mr. Twigg brought me some interesting American documents, including the little book written by a Tuscarora chief not far from Niagara: David Cusick’s Sketches of Ancient History of the Six Nations, etc., which is an interesting library item. At five o’clock, 3°R [38.8°F, 3.8°C]. Mr. Bodmer had been unable to cross the river. He saw a towhee bunting (Fringilla erythrophthalma), which Dreidoppel brought home, as well as a mallard. Evening to Mr. Say. I showed [him] the little book by Cusick, with which, however, he was not familiar.