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
November 14, 1832
In the morning, weather like yesterday but colder. At seven thirty, -2 3/4°R [25.8°F, -3.4°C]. Mr. Bodmer went hunting with Russel, the young hunter, who brought the turkeys yesterday; perhaps they will not return until tomorrow. During the afternoon Mr. Say and I took a walk up along the Wabash.
We found various interesting seeds, especially the tenlong flat pods of the Bignonia crucigera, the stalks of which are marked with four crossshaped lines next to the pith when they are cut through. The plant itself, with its woody stalk climbing up the tree trunks, has thick undivided leaves that are almost always green. During our present brisk weather, they were completely green, as was the local mistletoe (Viscum?), which is thought to be Viscum album, though it seems to me to deviate greatly from it. Several small birds flew around the corn fences: the snowbird (Fringilla hudsonia) and a kind of sparrow (Fringilla canadensis) especially frequently. In the forest, tits and some woodpeckers. In the evening Mr. Lesueur paid me a visit.
