28 February: In the morning, the sky mostly clear; light frost. Wind very strong out of the west. At seven thirty, 42°F [5.6°C]. Stormy wind. The old Hidatsa chief (la Mauvaise Loge) came into the fort. He wore his hair like a thick bun in front of his forehead; below this [and] around his head he wore a wreath of reddish brown–smeared buffalo wool that hung down to his eyes. The partisan arrived to be pictured and was drawn full-figure. Síh-Chidä came for a moment. At twelve o’clock, 40°F [4.4°C]. Very severe, stormy wind out of the west. Three to five Mandans were present at our lunch.

Mató-Tópe came in the afternoon. He wore a strange headdress that would have suited an old woman better. A strip of wolfskin, the long hairs standing apart like rays, was wound around his head and trailed far down his back. Individual feathers, pointing outward, were attached to the wolf hair. [They] had been stripped, except at the tips of the vanes. The bare shafts were painted red.

In the afternoon the wind was so strong that we could hardly stay on our feet when exposed to it. It seemed to turn more toward the south. In the afternoon, toward evening, two men sent upriver by Picotte arrived with completely unexpected mail from St. Louis. I received a letter from Germany that contained enclosures [dating] from July, August, and September 1833. Family news, all very good. Happily, Luitgarde gave birth to a son. Political [Page 3:154] news from Germany [was] disturbing. The evening was starlit, dark. A severe storm out of the northwest continued.