27 February: Toward morning the wind abated; the sky [was] gray, cloudy; [but the weather was] not cold. At daybreak, the thermometer [showed] 1 1/2°F [0.8°C] below freezing; at seven thirty, 32°F [0°C]. Wind northwest hora 9. They cut ice on the river. The Indian women also carried much ice into the village to melt water from it. [The] wind [was] still unpleasant, raw, and strong. The Indians led their horses to drink [from] the water puddles on the river ice. Dreidoppel went hunting. About ten o’clock Durand visited us. The sun shone then for a moment. He said that someone claimed to have seen ducks yesterday. Síh-Chidä visited us with his five-year-old child. Mató-Tópe came, [bringing] an interesting drawing he had done for me. It [depicted] some of his feats. Dreidoppel saw nothing on his outing. At twelve o’clock, 35 1/2°F [1.9°C]. Wind northwest.

When we came from lunch, we found Máhchsi-Karéhde, and soon Kähka-Chamahän came from Ruhptare, a funny, intelligent, elderly man, with large, lively eyes. He cracked all kinds of jokes. At two o’clock the wind blew straight out of the west. It thawed greatly. Many Indians came into the fort. Almost all of them were now living again in Mih-Tutta-Hangkusch. They say even Dougherty will move back to the Hidatsa villages. The snow on the prairie is already almost gone. Everywhere, as far as the distant hills, scattered horses graze. In the afternoon the sun appeared [and] the weather was friendly. However, toward evening it froze a little again. The tall Hidatsa partisan came [to stay, since he was] to be drawn tomorrow morning. He had already moved back [to] Eláh-Sá, his village.

About evening the Indian boys played in a very lively though sometimes clumsy way. They slid down the snowbanks, often using a slightly hollowed-out board [but] frequently [instead] a piece of a buffalo backbone with four to five or six ribs [still] attached; they sat down in this and s[hot] down as fast as an arrow. Evening calm, clear starlit, light frost; very beautiful weather. In the night, toward morning, [there was a] severe west wind.