3 February: The wind diminished toward morning. The sky was slightly overcast; the weather [was] warm; the wind [was] still rather strong out of the south hora 1 west. The change of weather was extremely remarkable. During the night the [look] of the whole area changed in a striking manner. Over half the snow was gone. The whole prairie and the hills were only spotted with snow; large stretches were bare of [it]. Rarely have I experienced such a fast change. The ground does not become as wet as it does in Europe when snow melts rapidly, because the eternally blowing winds here dry up the dampness right away. At seven thirty, 39°F [3.9°C] . At nine o’clock the wind came from exactly the opposite direction than in the morning, therefore approximately out of north hora 1 east. [It] did not [blow] long [in this direction] and changed [back] to the south. The magpies and ravens [flew] again on the open prairie looking for food. Dreidoppel went hunting on the prairie hills [but] saw nothing at all. At noon the wind [was] strong out of the southwest hora 4. At one o’clock, 43 1/2°F [6.4°C]. The snow was melting very fast. There was already much water lying on the ice of the Missouri. Kähka-Chamahän from Ruhptare visited us and stayed for lunch with Kipp. Old de l’Orme told me Ojibwe words.

The news came at noon that the pursuing Hidatsas had killed one Assiniboine, whom they found asleep [and left?] behind his troop. They woke him with whiplashes and then killed him. They subsequently continued their pursuit of the other Assiniboines.

The Assiniboines are a fearless, bold people. They approach the permanent villages of the Mandans and Hidatsas in winter and summer, [and] especially in spring and fall—often all alone—and occasionally and unexpectedly shoot people in or near the villages. An Assiniboine shot into a group of young men who stood at a village stockade fence and killed one of them. The others ran into the village and sounded an alarm. During that time the Assiniboine ripped off the scalp of the [man] who was shot, ran down the steep bank toward the river, where many people were bathing, and fled through their midst through the water. Other Assiniboines stole eleven horses from a Hidatsa lodge in a village, and only [as the thieves took] the last one did [the Hidatsas] notice. [The Hidatsas] quickly surrounded the village, but [the Assiniboines] had already gone. In the lodge where Charbonneau slept (in the central Hidatsa village), [Assiniboines] stole four horses, and nobody noticed them. [And] lately, in the Hidatsa villages, arrows have been seen stuck in [door] jambs and lodges—where Assiniboines lying in ambush had shot at people walking from one lodge to another in the evening.

In the afternoon the wind subsided. It continued to thaw. Dreidoppel went out but found too much water and mud in the cornfields of Mih-Tutta-Hangkusch, so he could not accomplish anything. The evening was dark, calm, and warm. At nine o’clock in the evening, the thermometer indicated 42°F [5.6°C]. Night calm, dark, warm.