14 March: In the morning, bright sky and sunshine; almost no wind. At seven thirty, 29°F [−1.7°C]. Wind southeast. They opened a cache in the courtyard of the fort today; it was filled with corn and [was] fairly dry. Péhriska-Rúhpa came to be drawn and took a long time for his toilette. Dreidoppel went hunting. This morning we had the last of the dried meat. Dreidoppel came back from hunting in the hills. He had seen nothing but one prairie hen. The wind came again from across the river. Durand visited us. He had been hunting with the Indians near the Butte Carrée, and they had shot a large bull elk. Today they saw three ducks. At twelve o’ clock, 47 1/2°F [8.6°C]. Wind southeast. Today Mr. Kipp heard the first male prairie hen perform its courtship [display]. In the afternoon Péhriska-Rúhpa took a long time to dress in the outfit of the Waschúkka-Aechke (‘ch’ velar), who are the Meníss-chatä of the Mandans, or for both of the nations, the Dog Society. For that purpose he wore the large, black bonnet of magpie tail feathers with a beautiful wild turkey tail in its center. Around his neck he wore a war whistle (see Bodmer’s illustration,M20And the closing vignette of the section of the Tagebuch that also applies to the Mandans), [and] down his back, two broad strips of cloth, one red on his left shoulder, one blue on his right—[they] came together in front and hung down low in the back [see fig. 20.10]. Dreidoppel brought some of the seeds that he found lying on the leaves [pads?] of a cactus plant in the prairie hills. Mató-Tópe and Síh-Chidä visited us.

Dreidoppel went out and fetched a nice skeletonized buffalo head, which we [had been] lacking. Getting it home was difficult. In the afternoon, pleasant and calm. There was a strong thaw today. The evening was calm, [with] little frost.