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Show 448 ARRIVAL OF THE FIRST BIRDS IN SPRING. with his friend, Mato-Tope, by the fire-side, when both took their pipes, the latter, however, always turning round first, and making everybody in the room sit down. During the tedium of my confinement to bed, I was enlivened by the frequent visits of the Indians, and I never neglected to continue my journal, which, from fever and consequent weakness, was often very fatiguing. Mr. Kipp kindly sent me some new-laid eggs every day, as well as rice, which he had reserved for me, and from which I derived great benefit. The inmates of the fort had nothing to eat but doughy maize bread and maize boiled in water ; but Mr. Kipp, who did not like the latter, was obliged to fast. On the 16th of March, the first wild swans were seen flying towards the north-west. Ducks were in the pools of water in the maize plantations of the Mandans; and Dreidoppel had observed the Fnngilla Canadensis, as a harbinger of spring. Violent storms from the northwest had prevailed for some days ; the Missouri was much swollen, but the breaking-up of the ice could not be yet expected, and we had repeated falls of snow. Mato-Tope and Pehriska-Ruhpa, who had gone out to hunt, succeeded in killing five buffaloes, and from them we obtained some meat; for, to show their liberality, they gave away a great deal of it, together with several coloured blankets. The first white-headed eagle (Aquila leucocephala) was seen to-day; and I received the first prairie dog, which was also a sign of the approach of spring, as these animals leave their burrows at this season. On the 27th of March, the band of the mad dogs danced in the fort; and, towards evening, an Indian from Ruhptare, who had had a dispute with Mr. Kipp about a beaver skin, revenged himself by breaking a pane of glass in our room. Our people pursued, but could not overtake him. As it was feared that he might commit greater acts of violence, the soldiers of the fort were sent to Ruhptare, on the 28th, to protect a fur trader who resided there. On the 30th, the first flock of fifteen or twenty wild geese passed over: the wind was high, and, on the following day, a good deal of ice broke up in the river. On the 1st of April the wind blew stormy, with a thermometer of 33° at noon. On the 2nd, the women at Mih-Tutta-Hang-Kush celebrated the spring corn feast, of which Mr. Bodmer made a sketch. This feast is always observed on the return of the wild geese, which are the messengers of the old woman who never dies. The Indians had already killed some of these birds. The festival was over at eleven o'clock in the forenoon, but some of the women remained the whole day, reclining near the offerings hung up in the prairie. Great numbers of young men were running races, and all was animation about the village. On the 3rd of April, the band of the Ischoha-Kakoschochata, eighteen in number, danced in the fort, led by Mato-Tope, on horseback, in full dress, wearing his splendid feather cap. The ice broke up so rapidly in the river, that it was necessary to set a watch over our boats during the night, lest the rising water should carry them away. On the following day the icy covering of |