Weather not as nice as yesterday; sky lightly overcast; a brisk, strong west wind. At seven thirty, 1 1/2°R [35.4°F, 1.9°C]. We went to Fox Island with Mr. Lesueur. A cold, penetrating wind was unfavorable to us. Of the many ducks at the Cutoff Arm, we shot a teal. We saw many wild geese but no cranes today. In the Fox River, I shot at another duck and did not notice that under some tree roots there was a mink, which came out after the shot and ran close by me toward the Wabash. But my gun was empty, and I had to let it go.

[The] Duclos, our boathands, made a fire on the Fox River landspit, where we ate our bread and meat. Afterward, armed with pick and shovel, we went to the groundhog burrow. Mr. Lesueur dug down three times trying to locate the marmots marmots’ chambers, but the burrow was too wide-ranging and we left. A beautiful white-headed eagle (Aquila leucocephala) soared high above us in the sky, and its head and white tail shone brightly in the clear sun. The cold, raw, strong wind made our return trip against the current of the Wabash very unpleasant. At noon the thermometer had registered 3 1/2°R [39.9°F, 4.4°C].

In the evening, a visit from a certain Mr. Flower, an Englishman from the Albion region. Together with the well-known Birkbeck (who described his journeys in America), he was one of the first settlers in the region around Albion, which was built entirely by English people. Both men owned large areas of land, but animosity developed between them that divided planters in that region into two factions. Flower is a well-to-do man; by chance he outlived the Birkbeck family. He now owns 400 genuine merino sheep, and he has recently had the Lincolnshire race [breed] imported. It is his custom to import fresh livestock from England from time to time.

He lives in a fertile region with strips of timber that are one, a half, or several miles wide, for the prairies are not unbroken along the boundaries of the great woodlands of Indiana but are intermittent and mingled with forest; forest and open land are about equal. As one gradually advances into the interior of Illinois, however, the forest decreases more and more, and the center of the state is all prairie. Some elk (Cervus canadensis) are still found there.

The mixed prairies in the vicinity of Albion, where there are still extensive stretches of Congress land that can be bought for one dollar twenty-five cents an acre, are particularly suitable for supporting industrious European settlers. The greatest difficulty for such new settlers is clearing the land of timber, work in which the Americans are said to be far more experienced than any foreigners. They are very experienced at this activity and have much heavier axes than we do. In the mixed prairies, there is sufficient wood and numerous large, clear areas where a plow can immediately be used without running into obstacles. I was told that Rapp’s German colony, too, when it came to the Wabash, largely employed American woodcutters. European settlers will certainly gain support immediately from Mr. Flower. To begin with, he is willing to establish small farms with a log house; to give people a team of oxen, some cows, pigs, seed Indian corn, and other necessary things; and then to share the yield with them.

The Birkbeck family has now completely vanished from this area. He himself drowned in an unfortunate manner while riding through the Fox River, which was visited by us so often for hunting and sketching by Mr. Bodmer. Several members of his family now live in Mexico, but none still remain on the prairies of Illinois. Just a few years ago, hunting parties of hostile Piankishaw Indians occasionally roamed through this area. Since the last war, they have again been driven farther back. In that region there was also a Piankishaw village (several miles from Albion), which has likewise since disappeared. The area where it was situated is still called Village Prairie, and Mr. Bodmer sketched it.

In that region, nature has several noteworthy phenomena. The black and the common wolf are numerous there in certain seasons of the year. The former is said to be especially powerful. Recently Mr. Flower lost thirty merino sheep to wolves, and one of them seized a sheep so fiercely by the back that it bit through all the internal organs. Mr. Flower explained to me the distinctive features of both kinds of wolf. The black and red or brown colors are peculiar to the species black wolf. Its head is said to resemble that of the fox less than that of the gray wolf does. The tail is not so thick and bushy but thinner, bent like that of the dog, with hair hanging down. There are foxes and skunks there, far more than near Harmony. Peculiar also are huge, isolated granite blocks, which occur in large numbers at a certain place in the prairie, since there is no similar mountain range in the vicinity. Similar phenomena [have been noted] in Europe and other regions of America. The persimmon plum (Diospyros) grows there in abundance. There are several wild varieties, some with one pit, others with several, etc.; if cultivated they would form several varieties, like those of our apples.

The catalpa tree grows there and, unlike rapidly growing varieties of trees, provides posts that are said to last up to 100 years in the ground. Now Mr. Flower intends to cultivate several trees carefully—the pecan walnut tree, for example—because a general destruction mania prevails among the local planters.

Among old Indian remnants on Mr. Flower's land, a remarkable figure, apparently an idol, was plowed up; [it] was made with its feet crossed and arms outstretched. It was sent to England. Unfortunately, Mr. Flower had no representation of it. Among animal fossils in the prairies, one is said frequently to find bones of buffalo (Bos bison), which, unfortunately, were exterminated there long ago.

Mr. Flower wants to try to domesticate beaver, since these animals still occur in limited numbers along the Little Wabash [River]. This was also a favorite plan of Mr. Maclure, as Mr. Say told me. Mr. Flower placed orders with beaver trappers for live beavers, which he intends to tame and then shear. Mr. Flower has never seen a gopher there, the species of mouse native to the true prairie.

In the evening we were at the home of Mr. Say, where we heard many an interesting story, including one about the Sioux chief who was asked whether the Sioux did not intend to begin cultivating potatoes soon. The Indian gazed thoughtfully into space for a while and then said, “We would have to be real fools to do that, for our Great Father (this is what they call the president of the United States) is such a good man that if we at some time need potatoes, we have only to ask him for them, and he will give them to us.”