in all the waste-grounds, to the exclusion of the native plants. A few of these, which keep their places with the greatest obstinacy by the road sides, are the sida abutilon and S. spinosa, and the verbena hastata; while the thistles, chrysanthemums and Johnsworts, so common about old fields in New England, are not to be met with. The eleusine mucronata, of Pursh, is one of the most frequent grasses along the

streets.

The Silver Creek hills are elevated about one hundred and fifty or two hundred feet above the level of the country in the rear of Jeffersonville. They form a continuous range, crossing the country from north to south. On the Kentucky side they constitute the commencement of a rugged and barren district, called the Knobs, and extending far to the south. At some remote period this range may have formed a barrier, extending across what is now the immediate valley of the Ohio, and retarding the retreat of the waters from the tract above the falls. * Coal occurs frequently in this range of hills, on the north side of the Ohio; quarries have been opened near the Blue river, in Indiana, about the two Pidgeons, opposite the mouth of Green river, and in various other places.

The larger steam-boats which run on the Mississippi, and the Ohio, ascend usually no farther than Shippingsport; and several of them remain at this place, during several months of the summer, while the water is too low to admit their passing up and down the rivers. This time it is often necessary to spend in repairs of various kinds. The high steamengines require frequent repairs, and in the difficult navigation of the Mississippi the hulks of vessels are often injured. It frequently happens that the boats built at Pittsburgh, and other places near the sources of the Ohio, are, within three or four years after they

* Volney.

are launched, in a condition to require the planking of the hulk to be replaced with new timber. These boats are usually planked with the upland white oak : we have been informed that such as are built lower down on the river, and of timber found in the low grounds, are more durable.

CHAPTER II.

THE OHIO BELOW THE RAPIDS AT LOUISVILLE.- ASCENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI FROM THE MOUTH OF THE OHIO TO ST. LOUIS.

*

OUR small boat descended over the rapids without injury; and having taken on board some wood near New Albany, we proceeded on our voyage, with a pressure of steam equalling one hundred pounds to the square inch, upon all parts of the engine exposed to its immediate operation. This enabled us to descend, at the rate of ten miles per hour. A small island in the Ohio, about twenty-three miles below the rapids, is called Flint Island, from the great numbers of fragments of flints, broken arrow points, and various instruments of stone, heretofore used by the Indians, which are found there on turning up the soil. This island has probably been the favourite residence of some tribe, particularly expert in the manufacture of those rude implements, with which the wants of the aboriginal Americans were supplied. The stone employed in these manufactures appears to have been, in most instances, that compact flint, which occurs in nodular masses, in the secondary limestones. In one instance we met with a triangular prism, of a very hard and compact aggregate of felspar, and hornblende, unlike any rock we have seen in the valley of the Mississippi. This prism was about five inches long, with faces of about

* Observations were made, at Shippingsport, to ascertain the rate of going of our chronometer, the latitude of the place, and for other purposes; according to these, the Falls are in 38° 15′ 23′′ N.

an inch in width, and was perforated, from end to end, forming a complete tube, with an orifice about half an inch in diameter, and smoothly polished, both within and without. We were never able to discover to what use this implement could have been applied; nor do we recollect to have met with accounts of any thing analogous to it, except, perhaps, those "tubes of a very hard stone" mentioned by the Jesuit Venegas, as used by the natives of California, in their treatment of the sick.* That it may have passed, by means of the intercourse of various tribes of Indians, from the primitive mountains of California to the rapids of the Ohio, is not, perhaps, improbable. Indirect methods of communication may have conveyed the productions of one part of the continent to another very remote from it. The savages of the Missouri receive an intoxicating bean from their neighbours on the south and west; these again must probably procure it from other tribes inhabiting, or occasionally visiting, the tropical regions.

In the Philadelphia museum are many Indian pipes of that red indurated clay, found only (as far as hitherto known) on the Pipe Stone branch of the little Sioux river of the Missouri; one of these, however, was found on the banks of the Rio de la Plata, in South America: several were found in the territory now called New England, and in the northeastern part of the continent.

On the 26th we passed the mouth of the Wabash, and arrived at Shawaneetown, ten miles below. Near the mouth of the Wabash, an accident happened to the engine, which rendered it necessary for us to drift down, until we should arrive at some place where repairs might be made. Some of the gentlemen of the party determined to go on shore, and walk to Shawaneetown. In swimming across a creek,

* Page 108.

three miles above that place, Lieutenant Graham dropped his rifle in the water, and having spent some time in attempts to recover it, did not arrive at Shawaneetown until after the boat had reached that place.

On the 27th, several of the party went out to hunt in the forests and swamps, north-west of Shawaneetown. At about four miles' distance from the Ohio, they arrived at the banks of a small pond, three miles long, and only three or four hundred yards wide. Here they killed a turkey, and some small birds. On the bank of the pond, was found a specimen of the Lake Erie tortoise, depositing its eggs in the sand, at about twenty yards' distance from the water. It had made, with its feet, a hole in the sand, two inches in diameter and four inches in depth, enlarging towards the bottom to three inches. This species occurs frequently in the pools and stagnant waters along the Ohio. We first met with it near the rapids at Louisville. Among other birds, we noticed about Shawaneetown, the pileated woodpecker, the minute tern, numerous flocks of the psittacus caroliniensis, two broods of young wood duck, some gulls, and semipalmated sandpipers. The terns appear to be attracted hither by great numbers of a species of phryganea, with which we found the stomachs of some of them filled. The semipalmated sandpipers were in large flocks, and did not appear stationary.

We left Shawaneetown at twelve o'clock on the 28th, and stopped three miles below, to take in wood; then proceeding forward, at four P. M. we ran aground on a sand bar, seven miles above the "Cave Inn," or "House of Nature." After much exertion, by means of anchors and poles, with the aid of the engine, and all the men, who were under the necessity of jumping into the river, we at length

*Testudo geographica of Leseuer.