14 January: In the morning, a very cold wind out of the southeast. Sky bright and clear. At eight o’clock, −16°F [−26.7°C]. Síh-Chidä slept the night at our place and stayed through midmorning. Toward noon, the thermometer in our room showed −12°F [−24.4°C]. At twelve o’clock, −8 1/2°F [−22.5°C] outside. Wind as in the morning. It blew directly into our room and caused severe cold. About evening the wind abated, however, and it was not as cold anymore. Tomorrow the Indians want to send people to find where the buffalo herds [are, and] then they will go hunting. It is highly necessary for us to get fresh meat, because the dry meat sent to us by Picotte is extremely bad—hard and tough as leather—one can hardly eat it. Even this is almost gone; so we have nothing but corn and beans, cooked very badly in the same manner every day. The engagés, who had to go out repeatedly for firewood, complained bitterly about the cold; they said it was worse than after New Year, even though we had only −8°F [−22.2°C] today at noon. The cause of [their distress] was the piercing wind, which they had to face head-on. In this country there is almost always wind, [and it] increases the cold exceptionally.