Thoreau writes in his journal:
P.M.—By boat to Fair Haven.
The water has fallen a foot or more but I cannot get under the stone bridge, so haul over the road. There is a fair and strong wind with which to sail upstream, and then I can leave my boat, depending on the wind changing to southwest soon . . .
As I returned I saw, in the Miles meadow, on the bottom, two painted tortoises fighting . . .