20 May: Fog in the morning; dark, cloudy sky. Toward ten o’clock the sky cleared. Wind southwest hora 5. We stayed moored here to dry our wet [belongings]. I roamed the woodlands even more thoroughly than yesterday, through the surrounding tall [trees]; [the vegetation] did not leave even the smallest spot free here. A single roadway led along the bank from one plantation to the other. The forest had glorious trees—Gleditsia, Tilia, Pavia, Gymnocladus, Celtis, and other species. A great variety of birds inhabited them. [We saw] the cuckoo, the red tanager (Tanagra rubra)—called flax bird here, because it likes to eat the nodes of the flax very much—the large Picus pileatus, [and] Sitta carolinensis, both of which we had not seen for a long time. The cuckoo was very common, and I shot it. Its voice has no similarity to that of the European [species]. On the beach, a Tringa (Tringa [—-—]) was very numerous. The soldier [we had] taken along yesterday soon found whiskey in the house and got a few of my men drunk. All [the] neighboring planters visited us to see my grizzly bears; [they caused] more sensation here than in any other area of the United States. In the afternoon I went in a different direction down along the river. I found a beautiful, romantic valley [wilderness]. Gigantic tulip trees and many pawpaw trees were in bloom. There was a dense cover of ferns on the valley floor. Everything [was] thickly leaved and luxuriant in lush greenery, wild and dense. A clear, small brook meandered down [through] the grass and the plants, and the houses of several planters were standing in the shadows on the hills.

I noticed very few birds here—only the bluebirds (Sylvia sialis Linn.), [which] lived in pairs on the plantations, and some quiet, dull Muscicapas [that] flew in the forest trees. When I [returned] to the boat, they had caught [nearby] the beautiful, so-called water snake (Coluber [—-—]), the same as we had gotten earlier [Page 3:186] at Dutotsburgh. In the evening again, several neighboring plantation owners—among them some men of the religious sect called Mormons—visited. An elderly, intelligent man gave us an idea of their teachings, to which he seemed very much [devoted]. He complained bitterly about the treatment their congregation had received [from] the neighboring plantation owners. They had lived on the [opposite] Missouri bank but were driven away from there by their neighbors. Their plantations were destroyed, their houses burned down, and some of them were even killed. Why? That I could not find out. We were told it is because they are said to have some wrong customs regarding the female gender. According to this man, they believe in the Old and the New Testaments; in particular, they consider the chapter [Book] of Mormon as the most important revelation, [and] from that their name was taken. An angel appeared to one of their founders in the year 1821 and gave them golden tablets on which that chapter of the Bible was engraved. The scripture was translated, and the angel took the tablets away with him. The man maintained [that] their sect was entirely harmless and would never hurt other people, therefore [making] it appear all the more inconceivable that they have so far been unable to have their rights recognized.

Our belongings were all of great interest to these backwoodsmen, especially our double-barreled shotguns and the combination over-and-under rifle/shotguns. Because the day had been nice and hot, we were able to dry out our luggage completely. We prepared to leave early the following morning.

This area of the Missouri has extraordinarily fertile soil. All the planters are also hunters and shoot much game and wild turkeys. Cervus virginianus is common. Bears still occur but are no longer common. The elk was eradicated a long time ago. The panther still occurs. The wood rat [—-—] frequently gets into the smokehouses (where people smoke and dry their meat) and causes damage to the stores of food. Panthers and wolves steal calves and sheep once in a while. The gray wolf is supposed to be quite common, black ones are very rare, [and] the white wolf is never [seen], proof that it is a different species.