Towards evening, 15 miles from Hendersonville,[44] in Indiana, we passed a small town called Evansville,[45] apparently a county seat, by the appearance of a court house. We continued to float throughout the night, which was very fine and moonlight, but cold, the thermometer being down at 20°. We passed Henderson in the night, and, about 5 o'clock in the morning of the 13th, came in sight of the large and beautiful broad island, called the Diamond, with the river, on either side of it, apparently a mile in breadth. At two intervals of 10 miles each, we had passed two other islands, and about one o'clock, found ourselves carried by good fortune, and at an easy rate, opposite to the Wabash [48] and its island, which mark the commencement of the territory of Illinois.
From Owensville, cane begins to be tall and abundant. The prospect of an approaching storm caused us to come to shore at an early hour, where we remained for the night, having our boat tied to a stout branch or stem of the Borya acuminata,[47] which grows here in abundance, and is nearly as thorny as a {40} sloe bush, sending up many straight stems from the same root.
14th.] We rode over to Shawneetown,[48] a handful of
