16 January: In the night [a] very severe wind that blew the ashes out of the fireplace into the room in such a manner that tables, books, and papers were all heavily encrusted [Page 3:139] with them. In the morning [it was] not cold. Overcast sky, wind northwest hora 8. At eight o’clock, −1°F [−18.3°C]. At midday, one o’clock, −2 1/2°F [−19.2°C]. It turned slightly colder, [and] the sky began to clear. There were no Indians of importance in the fort, only a few women. The Dacota again wanted to eat corn in our room, but we kept quiet with the door closed. In the afternoon Mató-Tópe came back from Ruhptare and said that he had enumerated his coups and no one could top him. In the evening we had meat that was not edible—all fat—[and] tomorrow [will be] the last [of that]. In the evening old Garrot, who always stays with the engagés now, told me about the Arikaras, with whom he had lived for a long time. He said that he had not eaten meat in a long time and was living only on corn; he was [not] looking well. They also have no meat in the Hidatsa village near Dougherty’s. It gets worse here every year for game. The white man brought all the misery to this country. When Garrot came here, game was in abundance. The beavers were heard everywhere in the evening, [slapping] their tails in the small brooks and rivers. [This] evening, bright moonlight.