Thursday 6.  The wind was violent from the north northwest with some snow, the air keen and cold.  At eight o’clock A.M. the thermometer stood at ten degrees above 0, and the river rose an inch and a half in the course of the day.

Friday, December 7.  The wind still continued from the northwest and the day is very cold:  Shahaka the chief of the lower village came to apprise us that the buffaloe were near, and that his people were waiting for us to join them in the chase:  captain Clark with fifteen men went out and found the Indians engaged in killing the buffaloe, the hunters mounted on horseback and armed with bows and arrows encircle the herd, and gradually drive them into a plain or an open place fit for the movements of horse; they then ride in among them, and singling out a buffaloe, a female being preferred, go as close as possible and wound her with arrows till they think they have given the mortal stroke; when they pursue another till the quiver is exhausted:  if, which rarely happens, the wounded buffaloe attacks the hunter, he evades his blow by the agility of his horse which is trained for the combat with great dexterity.  When they have killed the requisite number they collect their game, and the squaws and attendants come up from the rear and skin and dress the animals.  Captain Clarke killed ten buffaloe, of which five only were brought to the 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.