32 Expedition to the 



On the 27th, several of the party went out to hunt in the 

 forest, 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 no- 

 ticed about Shawaneetown, the pileated woodpecker, the 

 minute tern, numerous flocks of the psittacus caroliniensis, 

 two broods of young wood duck, some gulls, and semipal- 

 mated 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 semipal- 

 mated 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 succeeded in getting 

 her off, and ran down to the Cave, where we laid by for the 

 night. 



Early the next morning, we went to visit the cave, of the 

 entrance to which two views were sketched by Mr. Sey- 

 mour. It is a perpendicular fissure, extending about one 

 hundred and sixty feet, into the horizontal limestone cliffs, 



* Testudo geographica of Leseuer. 



