17 January: In the night and early in the morning, some snow. At eight o’clock, −3 1/2°F [−19.7°C]. Weather rather mild. At nine o’clock the sky was clearing. Wind west. Dreidoppel went out with his gun for the first time after a long period but soon returned empty-handed. I bought a beautiful magpie from an Indian boy. Mató-Tópe, whose portrait was supposed to be drawn, first painted himself in front of the mirror, probably for two hours, [in] highly original reddish brown, red, and yellow [colors], as described above. He sat [for the portrait] quite motionless, his battle-axe in his hand. At noon, very pleasant weather—the sun had strength, and [it] thawed a bit. At twelve thirty, −1/2°F [−18.1°C]. Wind west [but] seemed to move more toward [the] south. [It] blew cold; the sun glared severely from the ice crust on the snow. Charbonneau had traveled to the Hidatsas to look for meat, of which we had not a scratch. Our lunch consisted of corn boiled in water mixed with beans and cornbread. Péhriska-Rúhpa and a Mandan came into our room and were not bashful; [they] grabbed the first pipe near them and smoked. David [Dreidoppel] went out with [his] gun; however, he did not see anything in the forest except a flock of ten to twelve prairie hens. The snow was too deep everywhere and frozen solid. When the sun went down, it turned cold again.