4 June: Cool; a little haze and fog; afterward windy. Along the bank, tall, freshly green forests full of creepers, pawpaw trees, Gleditsia, and many Platanus, all young. [In these] soggy bottoms, people always keep their boats ready in case of serious floods. [We saw] picturesque settlements. We were told that the New Orleans steamboat Napoleon sank recently. It hit a snag; all passengers were saved. Even here the caterpillars had defoliated everything this spring. The pawpaw trees I found here were the most lush and densely leafed in all the areas I had seen. They formed a thick, even understory below the stripped cottonwoods.

At eight fortyfive we reached the mouth of the Ohio, that is, its confluence with the Mississippi (Mouth of Ohio). The clear, green water of the Ohio appeared as if it were cut off from the gray of the Mississippi. On a promontory at the mouth, houses, an inn, and a store were located; we stopped there. The water [level] of the Ohio was [then] too shallow for the large New Orleans boats. Therefore, boats from St. Louis, which are always smaller, waited there to pick up passengers traveling to Cincinnati, Louisville, or Pittsburgh—an inconvenient [delay] for us. The Boonslick, a New Orleans boat, lay stranded in the Mississippi, hoping for relief. We [sent over] a fl atboat with wood onto which some of the [Boonslick] cargo could be unloaded and [the steamboat thus] lightened, since it was carrying mainly lead. This work delayed our boat for a long time. Then we returned to our previous station at the mouth of [the] Ohio. We expected to see New Orleans boats arrive that afternoon, so [our steamboat] laid over and we went into the neighboring forest.

Papilio ajax and turnus were very numerous there; we caught many, especially of the former. Mr. Bodmer found the nest of a Tanagra mississippiensis that I had not seen, but [I] got a very similar [bird when I was] in Brazil. He shot several specimens of this beautiful bird as well as the fiery-colored Baltimore troupial,[Page 3:194] which was common here, as well as several other interesting birds. The steamboat Illinois came down the river, and at about three o’clock in the afternoon, the ship’s bell summoned the passengers, who were scattered in the forest. Two large New Orleans boats came toward us. The Mediterranean (the largest boat now traveling on the Mississippi, similar to a frigate, only far taller) tied up near us. The other one, named Chester, was a little smaller . The former had some cholera patients on board; two men had died of this illness during the voyage. It was not pleasant for us, on a healthy boat, to have to take on such passengers.

The two steamboats continued sailing. One went back to St. Louis. The Mediterranean, however, ran ahead of us upriver to Smithland [Kentucky] to leave passengers for us there. It is a 600-ton ship with 13 boilers and 40 fi remen. At four o’clock we also continued up the Ohio. We stopped at midnight at the village or town of Paducah [Kentucky] on the left (actually right) bank of the Ohio and stayed until eight o’clock on the [5 th of June.]