23 February: In the morning, overcast, cloudy sky, hazy horizon, mist on the forests (hoarfrost), at the same time, calm and cold. At seven thirty, −1/2°F [−18.1°C]. Wind light out of the west. The sun [was] a dim, yellowish spot in the fog. Neither animals nor people were to be seen, except for a few Indians who drove horses onto the prairie and a few dogs that followed them. About nine o’clock light snow fell. Máhchsi-Karéhde and Dipäuch visited us and smoked their pipes. We worked at home with ice-cold feet and hands. Noon rather pleasant but cold. Many Indian women were busy on the river dragging and carrying wood. At one o’clock, 9 1/2°F [−12.5°C], calm. The [deaf-] mute Mandan brought fresh meat today, [which] we had for lunch, an event that had not occurred for a few months. He encountered much snow in the distance beyond the river. There were again a few Hidatsas with Kipp: a man and his wife, the latter dressed in a new bighorn skin; on its borders the hair was left [as] trimming.

The afternoon [was] bright [and] cold. [The] wind [was] not strong, but [it was] cold [and] out of the north. I heard a very loud scream in front of my door, and when I opened [it], I found the tall Arikara's child, who had touched the rail of a sled runner with its tongue and was frozen to it right away. As we came there [the child] had already torn itself loose. The skin remained stuck, however, and the tongue was covered with blood. The child screamed terribly.

The evening was moonlit, calm, and cold. At nine o’clock in the evening, the wind [was from the] southwest. The night [was] extremely cold.