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 7, 1833
Early in the morning, bright, clear sky, sunshine. At seven thirty, 1°R [34.3°F, 1.3°C]. I rode with Mr. Bodmer and Lesueur to the Fox River. At Cutoff Island we got out. Cranes whooped as they swept over us. Along the bank of the Wabash I winged a turkey buzzard, which immediately vomited in the air when I hit it. These birds always do this when they are shot, frightened, or alarmed. About sixty ducks and wild geese were sitting on a sandbar in the Wabash, but we could not get close to them. The ducks were all mostly on the northern bank because there was very warm sunshine there. We crossed opposite the mouth of the Fox River, but the boat could not get very close to shore. We had to make many attempts, and Mr. Lesueur finally fetched a dry driftwood tree, which we placed on the boat in order to get over the shallow water. Opposite, at the head of the island, we got out and followed its bank upstream.
Woodcutters were occupied cutting wood for the steamboats. They had felled heavy trees, and their blows and the crashing of the falling trees resounded far through the lonely wilderness. Mr. Lesueur went into the interior of the island [and] with his little dog found a pair of groundhogs (Arctomys monax), one of which fled into its burrow, the other up a tree, where it was shot down. This proved for us that these animals leave their winter habitation at about this time. The bagged animal was big and heavy.
At noon we met near the place where Mr. Bodmer was finishing a sketch. I had just shot a nice wood duck (Anas sponsa). We enjoyed our frugal lunch of salt pork and bread, with which we drank Fox River water with some brandy. I could not persuade the seventy-year-old Lesueur to sit down beside me on an old tree trunk; at his age he was very active and nimble from morning till evening.
While we were occupied with our frugal meal, two large wild turkeys suddenly came streaking over the river and alighted near us on trees. Mr. Lesueur and I immediately ran toward them, but my excessive haste caused me to forget about the safety catch on my gun, and it failed to fire. We divided up and pursued both birds, which separated, but we did not meet again until later. Mr. Lesueur had shot a duck and I, unfortunately, had not fatally wounded my turkey, which was finally flushed from the tall reeds by chance, whereupon it flew across the Fox River and vanished from sight.
Because I had promised to have dinner at Mr. Maclure’s home, I went upstream on foot along the bank of the Wabash. [I] had to wait in a strong wind at least half an hour for the ferry, even though I was perspiring heavily because the heat in the forest at noon today was oppressive. The thermometer in Harmony, where it was exposed to the elements, had registered a [temperature of] 10 1/2°R [55.6°F, 13.1°C] at twelve o’clock.
At the home of Mr. Maclure, we had some interesting conversations. Among other things, we talked about the great usefulness and importance of the maize plant (Indian corn), which the Indians were already cultivating when Europeans came to America. Almost every living creature here practically lives on it—humans, mammals, birds, even fish—for wherever flatboats are loaded with maize, one finds large numbers of fish gathered around, and this makes it easy to catch them. Mr. Say related that in the south (in South America), a new variety of this grain has been discovered in which each kernel has a special sheath.
Mr. Maclure related that buffalo (bison) were once numerous in all the forests of this region. Men who had come to this place while young had still seen them. Even now, people in this region have a race (breed) of cattle that are called buffalo-cattle and without doubt are said to be descended from these animals. They differ only in having somewhat curlier hair but not at all in shape. Mr. Say talked about the excellence of the bison meat he had eaten so often west of the Mississippi. The marrow from the thighbones especially is said to be very well liked; the marrow is spread on the meat.