In the morning, cloudy sky, very warm. Much [mud] everywhere. A hummingbird flew around the blooming bushes in the inn yard. [There were] many blackbirds in the nearby cultivated fields. All around [this was] a tall, dark forest. Because there was no stage leaving early, we hired a long farm wagon—open on top and pulled by three horses. Seats made out of boards were set up on it. Dreidoppel left early with [our?] boat down the Missouri to reach St. Louis today.

We departed between seven and eight o’clock. We went deep into the tall forest that extended for many several ten to twelve miles. Colossal sugar trees (sugar maples), honey locust, elm, and oak [trees] covered a hilly area near the road, which extends nineteen miles straight through the country to St. Louis. The last six to seven miles are on the prairie (as it is called here). Everywhere in the tall forest, the ground was covered with beautiful, interesting plants [attracting] large, beautiful butterflies. Frequently [seen] among the blooming plants [were] a pale red (fleshcolored) Monarda; a beautiful plant with a light, fiery, vermilion-colored flower ([——]) that gleamed [against] the green [background]; Tradescantia virginica; in a marsh [and] especially on flat meadowlands, a large, beautiful blue iris; and a dark blue Delphinium.

A multitude of Papilio ajax [——] flew about with many other species. The partridge (Perdix virginiana) was extremely frequent in this forest. Its two-[part] whistle resounded everywhere. These cute birds—the male, with its white and dark-striped head, is exceptionally charming—were not shy at all. They often let us drive by very close. Game (Cervus virginianus) and wild turkeys are said to be very numerous here. We noticed various kinds of interesting birds: woodpeckers, the nice blue jay, the beautiful yellow-headed parakeet, the cardinal, the red-eyed finch, and many others. From time to time we came across settlements in the tall forest. The houses were all built of wood, the outsides covered with boards, the roofs with shingles. The chimneys [were] brick.

After a few miles in the forest, [we saw] Cercis, many pawpaw trees (Annona), [and] the willow oak (Quercus phellos), which is called pin oak here and which frequently forms interesting thickets adorning the forest. Apparently it does not grow higher than forty to fifty feet here. Among the interesting plants in the St. Louis area is the ginseng (Panax quinquefolia), which also grows in the state of Illinois and other areas. It is still gathered and exported, but the demand for it is not consistent every year. The root is bulbous [and] strangely shaped. Those with two bulbs are considered the best.

Several other officinal plants grow here, for example, Frasera waltheri, which furnishes false columbo root for the trade. Mentha piperita now grows everywhere in the United States. Originally it was brought from England, but it now grows here almost freely. It is therefore not necessary to import this article from Europe. Myrica cerifera, from which the well-known fragrant, green candles are made, grows in the south. I could find out nothing about it here.

Among the timber of the forests, the oak needs to be specially mentioned. The white oak furnishes excellent building timber. The red oak, with its deeply carved, sharply lobed leaves, is used, particularly in St. Louis, for tinting and tanning. The bark of the black oak (Quercus tinctoria) is much exported to England. They use this like our European tanning bark. It colors metal black. The tree grows on hills in good soil.

The forest extends quite far [but] finally becomes more sparse [and] mixed with open spaces. Then the ground is overgrown with a short, twenty- to thirty-foot-high species of oak (scrub oak), probably Quercus obtusiloba(?). Finally it turns into what is called prairie here—although very different from the true prairie of the upper Missouri. Here there are only mixed prairies—open, sometimes flat or gently hilly areas, covered with short shrub oaks [and] overgrown in part with round with tall grass and various nice plants. The scrub oak forms its low or timber like clumps of bushes everywhere.

At noon we stopped at a solitary inn on the edge of the forest and the [adjoining] so-called prairies. From here it was still 6 to 7 miles to St. Louis. The last part [of the way] led through a forest of shaftlike, dark-leafed oaks.

In [the forests,] we noticed many round, bowl-like pools of water, whose origins are undoubtedly found in the many collapsed sinks of this area, investigated by Say and described in Major Long’s Expedition to the Rocky Mountains (vol. 1, p. [——]). Those pools are often 50 to 60 paces in diameter and shelter numerous choirs of frogs. Soon after noon we reached [the] Union Hotel in St. Louis.

St. Louis had not been overtaken by cholera, as we had been told everywhere along the Missouri, but remained healthy. Some cases occurred on a few steamboats from New Orleans. I found everything in a mostly unchanged condition.

At the office of the American Fur Company, I found letters from Germany dated 2 March, as well as one from Mr. Say in New Harmony dated 15 April. I wrote right away to Germany (this letter left on 28 May for New York). Another letter I sent immediately to New Harmony to inform Mr. Say of our imminent visit there.

The gentlemen of the Fur Company were very gracious to me. We were invited to Mr. Lamont’s, and we made the acquaintance of his family. He lives in a nice house in the upper part of the city. Mr. Chouteau [lives] in the main street below at the river. The house of the latter is spacious and furnished very elegantly.

I had four new crates made in St. Louis for the live bears, for which I paid $41. I packed seven new boxes with natural history specimens; the eighth was still in Mr. Edward Tracy’s store. The numbers of the seven new boxes were XXVII, XXVIII, XXIX, XXX, XXXI, XXXII, and XXXIII. [Another] visit I made was to Major O’Fallon, who had given me the Lewis and Clark maps. We saw there a large collection of completed Indian paintings by the artist Catlin. They are mostly inferior. All [were] painted very lightly; a few were interesting and [resembled their subjects]. Catlin was unfortunately not in New York now; [he was] traveling along the Arkansas River. Major Dougherty kept us overnight at his place. There we saw a very beautifully painted Pawnee robe and an extremely handsome Indian pipe bowl with figures in carved relief. On the way [back] to St. Louis from these two visits, we noticed a small bird [sitting] on a fence; it had the color of a lark [and] a yellow breast with a black spot ([——]); we had not seen this before. Blackbirds were very common here. [There were] many especially nice, small oak forests; the area [was] generally very pleasant. The road had been improved a little during our absence.