On the 26th we passed the mouth of the Wabash, and arrived at Shawaneetown,[045] 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, {31} 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,[046] 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."[047] 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 {32} succeeded in getting her off, and ran down to the cave, where we lay by for the night.