5 December: Early in the morning, altogether warm, no frost, calm; noon cloudy, foggy and hazy weather, moisture was coming down. At eight o’clock, 37 1/2°F [ 3.1°C]. Síh-Chidä had spent the night at the fort, along with Broken Pot. He came early, got dressed at our place, and primped a long time in front of his small mirror.

This morning there was also one of those men whom the French call bardaches here in the fort. They dress like women and do all the work of those: tan hides, paint skins, and make pieces of clothing. In short, they are altogether women. Indeed, it is even said that the young men chase after them and declare their love. Mr. Kipp asserts [that] it is a kind of vow that these men take, like certain religious orders, which seek take a vow of poverty. He does not see anything wrong in the lifestyle of the berdaches, [and] they are not despised or looked down upon for it. Others see the matter from a somewhat different point of view.

Síh-Chidä did not want to stay to have his picture drawn but at last decided to remain, and Mr. Bodmer began to draw his whole figure. Old Charbonneau visited us this morning; later on he would go to Durand at the lower forest village of the Mandans. The humid fog turned into full rain toward noon. At twelve o’clock, 38°F [3.3°C], calm, wet, hazy, foggy, and warm. I wrote letters the whole midmorning without stopping. Charbonneau had gone across the Missouri via Ruhptare and had found the ice already covered with water a hand high. If this wet, mild weather continues for a few more days, the river will open up again. The big rats in the fort seemed to look for water. They were seen running around on the roofs, and Mr. Bodmer shot some with fine birdshot.

A Mandan chief, He Who Does Not Shoot at Bears, had been sick and pretended to be dead. When he regained consciousness, he said that he had been in the land of the dead. The trail came to a fork: the Mandans took one, the Hidatsas the other. The former was smooth and pleasant, the latter rough and disagreeable. These Indians are all full of superstition, and such trickeries are the order of the day. Today both mute Mandans returned from hunting and brought sufficient meat along so that we in the fort received some, too. Our supply of meat had been completely consumed, and people were eating corn boiled in water without any fat. My bears have not been getting anything to eat but corn for a long time—in eight days almost a bushel, [costing] eight twists [of tobacco] with a value of two dollars. Charbonneau stayed here overnight and talked about Indians and the earlier times of his life here. Síh-Chidä stayed again also and drew us once more. Night very dark; it continued to rain, and it became muddy in a very short time.