23 April: In the morning, clear and nice. Sunshine. Wild geese and ducks [were visible]. [At] seven thirty, 51°F [10.6°C]. Wind southeast hora 11. In some places, the thickets of shrubs [showed] a slight greenish coloring, that is, new leaves. Some shrubby willows were already all green. We saw antelope on the prairie, turkey buzzards in the air, and the first turtledoves on the riverbanks. At twelve o’clock, 68°F [20°C].M2Southeast wind.

At this hour we reached the two abandoned Arikara villages, Achtárahä and Hóhka-Wirátt. We landed immediately below them. We disembarked, lit fires, and heated the cooked corn. Mr. Chardon and Bodmer went into the villages to look for skulls and to collect prairie onions for me. They found some of the graves opened by wolves and the bodies pulled out with their blankets and robes. They brought back two nicely bleached skulls. We then continued on. A few hours later, rain hit, soon [accompanied by] severe wind. We went ashore and lit fires almost opposite the Grand River, at whose mouth we arrived at four thirty. The weather [was] shortly a little better. Wind moderate. We had traveled 10 miles from the Arikara villages to where we were.

Two flocks of pelicans came upriver, more than 160 [birds]. We shot at them in vain and continued on. About evening, again rain and wind. [A] severe storm out of the north at dusk. We went ashore on an unprotected bank. The storm was terrible—snow mixed with rain [and] the boat battered by such waves that it sprang a leak and took on much water. [The crew] tied it down to the best of their ability.

At the [campsite] on the bank, the men had no shelter or firewood. We stayed awake all night long and frequently bailed water out of the boat. No one could sleep peacefully. Toward midnight the [storm’s] intensity let up a little, [but] then it froze hard, and the land was covered with snow in the morning.