Bodmer made a quick sketch of a steamer on the Mississippi from the deck of the Homer near the mouth of the Arkansas River. Curiously, the boat is not mentioned in the title, which was derived from a partial inscription on the sketch itself. Even more curious is the head of a man, apparently a slave, seen in profile at the extreme upper right of the drawing. Bodmer later mentioned to Maximilian that in New Orleans he had seen a packet of slaves bound for Mobile, Alabama, but aside from this sketch he made no studies of blacks.

Bodmer made several sketches of the mouth of the Arkansas River in passing downstream toward Natchez. Today this aspect of the river is greatly altered, and a modern ship channel and system of locks carries Mississippi barge traffic on the Arkansas to just below Tulsa, Oklahoma

Rising in Colorado and flowing through the states of Kansas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas, the Arkansas River enters the Mississippi from the west, roughly halfway between the modern cities of Memphis, Tennessee, and Natchez, Mississippi. Maximilian reported in his journal that the Arkansas empties into the Mississippi at such an angle amid sandbanks and islands that "one does not even notice the river mouth."

Bodmer's watercolor of the village of New Mexico carries conflicting notations on the reverse. One indicates that it was done on January 12 and the other on January 6 at twelve o'clock. Maximilian stated in his journal that Bodmer reached New Mexico on January 12 and gave its location as "near Memphis." At the same time he mentioned that it was near or opposite the mouth of the Arkansas River. According to a map of the Mississippi Valley published by H. S.

En route to New Orleans in January, Bodmer passed many small settlements on the banks of the Mississippi. Many of these have since disappeared. According to Maximilian's account of Bodmer's voyage, one of the first towns of any size located below the mouth of the Ohio was Columbia, not found on modern maps of the river. Bodmer produced a watercolor sketch of the so-called Iron Banks in this vicinity. Maximilian reported that "Columbia has 20-24 houses."