fort, the rest which could not be conveyed home
being seized by the Indians, among whom the custom is that whenever a
buffaloe is found dead without an arrow or any particular mark, he is
the property of the finder; so that often a hunter secures scarcely any
of the game he kills if the arrow happens to fall off: whatever is left
out at night falls to the share of the wolves, who are the constant and
numerous attendants of the buffaloe. The river closed opposite the fort
last night, an inch and a half in thickness. In the morning the
thermometer stood at one degree below 0. Three men were badly
frostbitten in consequence of their exposure.

Saturday 8. The thermometer stood at twelve degrees below 0, that is at
forty-two degrees below the freezing point: the wind was from the
northwest. Captain Lewis with fifteen men went out to hunt the buffaloe;
great numbers of which darkened the prairies for a considerable
distance: they did not return till after dark, having killed eight
buffaloe and one deer. The hunt was, however, very fatiguing, as they
were obliged to make a circuit at the distance of more than seven miles;
the cold too, was so excessive that the air was filled with icy
particles resembling a fog, and the snow generally six or eight inches
deep and sometimes eighteen, in consequence of which two of the party
were hurt by falls, and several had their feet frostbitten.

Sunday 9. The wind was this day from the east, the thermometer at seven
degrees above 0, and the sun shone clear: two chiefs visited us, one in
a sleigh drawn by a dog and loaded with meat.

Monday 10. Captain Clarke who had gone out yesterday with eighteen men
to bring in the meat we had killed the day before, and to continue the
hunt, came in at twelve o'clock. After killing nine buffaloe and
preparing that already dead, he had spent a cold disagreeable night on
the snow, with no covering but a small blanket, sheltered by the hides
of the buffaloe they had killed. We observe large herds of buffaloe
crossing the river on the ice, the men who were frostbitten are
recovering, but the weather is still exceedingly cold, the wind being
from the north, and the thermometer at ten and eleven degrees below 0:
the rise of the river is one inch and a half.

Tuesday 11. The weather became so intensely cold that we sent for all
the hunters who had remained out with captain Clarke's party, and they
returned in the evening several of them frostbitten. The w