This night and the following morning (the 15th) were very sultry; at eight o'clock, 75° Fahrenheit. Papin had shot a deer the evening before, but did not kill it; which was doubtless the cause of the loud howling of the wolves which we heard during the night; for these creatures make an incessant howling when they have found such a prize, and contend for the booty, in which cases the weaker and the young come off the worst. The ground of this forest, and of the adjoining prairie, was a heated, very hard, dry clay, and the country reminded me, at this season, except { 214} in the vegetation, of the summer in the Sertao of the province of Bahia, in Brazil. Numerous birds animated the thickets, and we were preparing to pursue them, when a large buffalo bull advanced into the river, and immediately sank in the mud. We hastened up and killed him with several shot. With Messrs. Mitchell and Cuthbertson[23] I soon afterwards reached the vessel; my American friends, heated as they were, threw themselves into the water to refresh themselves. Towards noon, when the thermometer was at 86°, our other hunters returned, who had killed several buffaloes, and wounded an antelope. They had seen a herd of at least 100 elks, and wounded one of them. Mr. Mitchell, with his rifle, had shot down a white-headed eagle from a high tree, where he was devouring a large fish. The evening was very pleasant, but the mosquitoes penetrated in such swarms into the vessel, that we were obliged to stop every aperture of the cabin, and consequently suffered from the heat.
Early in the morning of the 16th we perceived a herd of buffaloes, and resolved to go in chase of them; but six bulls, standing near the bank, got the wind of us, and all fled. We endeavoured to get near them, but without success; and, after a fatiguing excursion of six hours, returned back much heated, and did not reach the vessel before twelve o'clock, which had remained far behind. We then proceeded on our voyage, and soon after Dechamp and Papin came on board, who had killed some buffalo cows. Dreidoppel, whom we found further up the river in the wood, had lighted a fire, over which he roasted the loin of a large antelope, which he had killed; while he was busy in preparing the skin of this animal for my zoological collection, he suddenly perceived two large white wolves standing about ten paces from him, which did not appear to be at all afraid. He might have shot them both, had not the ramrod of his rifle been broken. The wood where we took Dreidoppel on board was full of gooseberries, of a pleasant acid taste, of which our people brought a great quantity on board. The shrub which bears these black berries is thickly set with reddish thorns, almost like _Robinia hispida_.