11 March: In the night, very severe wind until morning. When the sun rose, [the weather was] bright, beautiful, and friendly. Light wind out of the southwest hora 5. At seven thirty, 26°F [−3.3°C]. OldMahchsi-Berrockä and the Arikara came early today. The former we did not let in at first; the second one we got rid of.

All of us have felt rheumatic pain for two days, and I had a swollen knee that was suffused with blood. The joint was free, only the hollow of the knee was too swollen; I did not have any pain [there?]. Kipp had severe headaches for several days; Bodmer alternately had toothaches and headaches; Dreidoppel had frequent pain in his knees, back, and head.

Today, on my good sister’s birthday, we were in a very sad state.M18Sad state [of affairs] on 11 March, [normally] a happy day in my family. We had coffee for breakfast, so weak and horrible that we could hardly drink it. We had to economize with the beans to the highest degree. Instead of sugar we had honey, [of which only 20 pounds] [was] left, and when this ran out in about ten days, we would have just molasses. We did not have wine or other spirits to drink a toast to [her] birthday.

In the meantime, we did not feel well in the stomach and suffered from rheumatism. We were extremely tired of life here in this dirty fort. Filth everywhere was the disgusting order of the day. Because the Negro, our cook (Alfred), suffered from a serious venereal disease, we had another slovenly waiter and cook, Boileau, who wore a fur cap on his head. He sat down with us and reached for the cups and plates with his disgusting fists after having cleaned his nose in the fashion of our farmers. The ? clerk of the fort, Kipp, and his wife and child, behaved the same way. They [also] threw things around and cleaned their fingers on the first available object. The little boy had an opening in the front and the back of his pants, so that he could relieve himself immediately on the floor of the room, and this happened often during meals. The indolence and indifference of this otherwise quite good man went so far that he relieved himself beside the fort in front of everyone. [Page 3:158] He did not even have a privy built for this purpose. In short, the sojourn here was a difficult test, especially if [one keeps in mind] the severe cold in our “smokehouse,” open [to the weather] on all sides.

At nine o’clock the wind rose again. Mándeh-Páhchu came nicely dressed with his father, Mahchsi-Berrockä, and had himself drawn. At twelve o’clock, 37 3/4°F [3.2°C]. Wind stormy, [out of the] southwest, stormlike; at the same time, it was [also] thawing. Several Hidatsas were at Kipp’s; among them [were] Addíh-Hiddísch and his young companion. He wants to go beaver hunting soon. The Arikara came, [but] only to smoke a pipe at our place; [he] soon left. In the afternoon the drawing was continued. Toward evening [it was] very raw and cold again, the wind very severe and unpleasant. Rather pleasant in the evening, not very cold; calm, starlit sky.