10 December 1833
Mató-Tópe came early and brought me a small weasel in its snow-white winter coat, a very cute animal he had shot with an arrow in his lodge. This little animal is said to turn white every winter. Because of the fog that covered the prairie hills and the forest, all trees were encrusted in magnificent hoarfrost. Even the hair and the heads of the Indians who came into the fort were completely covered with white hoarfrost, especially since they have a lot of false hair. Mató-Tópe stayed a long time with us and looked at drawings, which gave him much pleasure. Today he received several little things, like tin cups for colors, red pencils [or crayons], and gum elastic. . . . Mató-Tópe watched the drawing of the Indians [attentively].
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- Group of three crayon holders, eighteenth century.
- Winter weasel skin, n.d.
- Cup from Fort Berthold II archaeological site, Missouri River Basin Survey, North Dakota, n.d.
- Prince Maximilian zu Wied-Neuwied, Manuscript Journal of Prince Maximilian’s Travels in North America, parts 15–29, vol. 3, 1833–34, p. 49.
- Gum elastic.