May 1, 1834
Clear [and] cool in the morning, [with a] light southwest wind, hora 2. At six o’clock we reached Big Bend, where Dreidoppel and Dauphin got out to hunt and to cut across the point. [At] seven thirty, 46°F [7.8°C].
We found [fossil] mussels in the stone at the place where the hunters had landed. Among [the fossils] was one [still] complete [with] both shells connected.
The banks of the Grand Detour [Big Bend] are monotonous and without change. Everywhere the trees were in their new green, [and] the plum bushes were white, covered with flowers. [We saw] wild geese, at which we shot. Cedars stand mixed in between deciduous trees. After noon we found our hunters again on the bank at the other side of the bend. They came across three Charadrius [——] on the prairie hills and shot one of them, as well as a prairie dog (they found a large town of this small animal), but no antelope. They saw a game animal, found several Dacota lodges in the dry creek bed, and met some Indians on horseback, too. They found many [fossil] impressions of mussels on the hills; [the latter were] burned fairly black.
At noon it was hot, 64°F [17.8°C]. About three o’clock, or three thirty, we reached the Sioux Agency, Major Bean’s post. In the agency building inside the fort, we found the interpreter Cephir and three [other] men, who had little food. They had had no buffalo all winter long and had lived off antelope meat and a little salt pork. They were impatiently awaiting the arrival of Major Bean with the steamboat Assiniboine. We did not stay long. Mr. Bodmer sketched the tree burial place of the Dacotas mentioned earlier; about thirteen Dacota [tipis] were camping in the area. Other Yanktons had been here to wait for the steamboat but scattered again because of the food shortage. They were hunting antelope now and had just sent [one] to the white men.
Wahktä́geli, whom Bodmer drew [last year], visited us immediately and gave repeated assurances of his faithfulness to the white men. After half an hour we sailed on. The evening was very pleasant [with] friendly sunshine. Dreidoppel shot a duck (Anas [——]). The evening was cool. We put in on the right bank, and Dauphin caught two nice white catfish. The wolves howled and the frogs croaked loudly. Bodmer found Falco sparverius, the catbird, and several woodpeckers in the forest on the bank and on the beautiful green prairie beyond it.
