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OF VOLUME II

EXPLORATIONS IN FLORIDA AND THE SOUTH ATLANTIC

PAGE

EASTERN VISIT AND EXPLORATIONS IN THE NORTH ATLANTIC

Bachman's success as a canvasser--Boston visit--Journey to Portland--Ascent of the St. John's--Return overland--Victor Audubon becomes his father's agent--Winter in Boston--The Golden Eagle--Stricken with illness--Expedition to Labrador planned--American support--Sails from Eastport with five assistants--Discoveries and adventures on the Labrador--Safe return--Another winter in Charleston--Sued for old debts--Experience with vultures--Advice and instruction to a son--Working habits--Return to England 26

THORNS ON THE ROSE

SIDELIGHTS ON AUDUBON AND HIS CONTEMPORARIES

AUDUBON AND MACGILLIVRAY

In London once more--MacGillivray's assistance continued--Return to Edinburgh--MacGillivray's character and accomplishments--Audubon's acknowledgments--Tributes of "Christopher North"--Results of overwork--Fusillades from "Walton Hall"--Progress of the large plates 125

THIRD AMERICAN TOUR, 1836-1837

AUDUBON'S GREATEST TRIUMPH

NEW ENTERPRISES AND LIFE AT "MINNIE'S LAND"

EXPEDITION TO THE UPPER MISSOURI

FINAL WORK DAYS

AFTERWORD: AUDUBON'S FAMILY IN AMERICA

ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS

AUDUBON'S EARLY DATED DRAWINGS MADE IN FRANCE AND AMERICA

Drawings now in the collections of Mr. Joseph Y. Jeanes of Philadelphia, and formerly belonging to Mr. Edward Harris, of Moorestown, New Jersey; of Mr. John E. Thayer, Lancaster, Massachusetts, and of Harvard University 375

"THE BIRDS OF AMERICA"

Authentic Likenesses of Jean Jacques Foug?re Audubon 392

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Containing a fully annotated list of Audubon's writings, biographies, criticism, and Auduboniana 401

INDEX 457

PAGE

Letter of Dr. George Parkman to Audubon, May 25, 1833 43

Letter of Robert Havell to Audubon, June 15, 1833 51

Dr. Thomas Cooper, President of South Carolina College. After a contemporary silhouette 78

Letter of Edward Harris to Audubon, January 31, 1843 251

Letter of John Bachman to George Oates, November 7, 1846 282

Audubon's last letter to Edward Harris, February 22, 1847 287

AUDUBON THE NATURALIST

SONNET

TO J. J. AUDUBON, ESQ., ON BEHOLDING HIS DRAWINGS.

Is there delight in Nature's solitudes, Her dark green woods, and fragrant wilderness, In scenes, where seldom human step intrudes, And she is in her wildest, loveliest dress? Is there delight in her uncultured flowers, Each ripened bloom or bright unfolding dye, Or in the tribes which animate her bowers, And through her groves in living beauty fly? Then, on thy canvas as they move and live, While taste and genius guide the fair design, And all the charms which Nature's works can give With equal radiance in thy colours shine; Amidst the praise thy country's sons extend, The stranger's voice its warm applause shall blend.

J. E. R. .

AUDUBON THE NATURALIST

EXPLORATIONS IN FLORIDA AND THE SOUTH ATLANTIC

In the summer of 1831 Audubon felt that he must again return to America and extend his researches to the north, south and west, as well as begin a campaign for subscribers in the United States. His large folio was now running into its second volume, and the first installment of his text had been published; the time was favorable to his plans, and he hoped to remain in the country two or three years.

For the second time the publication of his plates was entrusted to friend Children, and with Mrs. Audubon he set sail for New York on August 2, 1831. From the American metropolis he wrote to Joseph B. Kidd on September 7 as follows:

What Audubon actually did was to proceed to Philadelphia, where Mrs. Audubon left him to visit her sons in Louisville, and where he laid his plans for exploring the Southern States, especially the islands and eastern coast of the Florida peninsula. For this expedition he engaged two assistants, one of whom was Henry Ward, the "young man" mentioned above, an Englishman who had come with him to America as taxidermist, while the other was George Lehman, a Swiss landscape painter whom he seems to have found at Philadelphia. With them he soon started for Washington to obtain assistance from the Government.

We are authorized to state that information of the progress of Mr. Audubon will be given, from time to time, to the scientific world, in the pages of this journal.

We are gratified in being able to state, that he was received in the most cordial manner, at Washington, and that the distinguished gentlemen in authority there, have given him such letters to the military posts on the frontiers, as will assure him the aid and protection his personal safety may require. We anticipate the most interesting reconnaisances, both geological and zo?logical, from this enterprising naturalist, who is accompanied by Mr. Lehman, as an assistant draftsman, and by an assistant collector who came with him from Europe.

The "distinguished gentlemen" at Washington who particularly aided Audubon at this time, besides Colonel Abert, were Edward Everett, Levi Woodbury, Secretary of the Navy, and Lewis McLane, Secretary of the Treasury. He was particularly anxious to obtain accommodation for his party aboard a government vessel, but it was some time before a suitable one was available. They left Washington about October 15, 1831, and went by steamer to Norfolk and Richmond, Virginia, where the Governor, John Floyd, whom Audubon had known in his Kentucky days, gave him numerous letters of introduction. At Charleston, their next stopping-place, he had hardly begun work in the field when he was sought out by the Rev. John Bachman, by inclination a naturalist of the old school and by profession a Lutheran minister, who at once took the whole party under his hospitable roof, where they remained a month. Thus began a life-long and almost ideal friendship between these two men, so unlike in character, in temperament and in training, which was quite as important to the modest German-American divine as to the impulsive Franco-American painter and student of birds. It was Audubon's infectious enthusiasm which kindled to an ardent flame that love of nature which was innate in Bachman, and which eventually brought his name and work to the attention of the scientific world.

The last has been one of the happiest months of my life. I was an enthusiastic admirer of nature from my boyhood, and fond of every branch of Natural History. Ornithology is, as a science, pursued by very few persons--and by none in this city. How gratifying was it, then, to become acquainted with a man, who knew more about birds than any man now living--and who, at the same time, was communicative, intelligent, and amiable, to an extent seldom found associated in the same individual. He has convinced me that I was but a novice in the study; and besides receiving many lessons from him in Ornithology, he has taught me how much can be accomplished by a single individual, who will unite enthusiasm with industry. For the short month he remained with my family, we were inseparable. We were engaged in talking about Ornithology--in collecting birds--in seeing them prepared, and in laying plans for the accomplishment of that great work which he has undertaken. Time passed rapidly away, and it seems but as yesterday since we met, and now, alas! he is already separated from me--and in all human probability we shall never meet again.... I need not inform you that Mr. Audubon was a general favorite in our city. His gentlemanly deportment, his travels and experience, his information and general talents, caused him to be sought after by all. But your husband knew that the great objects before him required his unremitted attention, and he was obliged to deny himself to his friends, on many occasions, and devoted to them only his evenings.

There seems quite a blank, in my house, since he has gone, for we looked on him as one of our family. He taught my sister, Maria, to draw birds; and she has now such a passion for it, that whilst I am writing, she is drawing a Bittern, put up for her at daylight by Mr. Audubon.

We shall now return to our narrative and fulfill our promise of reproducing Audubon's own account of his journey from Richmond to Florida:

I am now seated in earnest to give you an unceremonious summary of my proceedings up to this time, since we left Richmond, in Virginia. As a geologist, I venture to suppose you would have been but indifferently amused, if you had been with us in our journey from this latter place to Charleston, in South Carolina; and as an ornithologist, I cannot boast of the enjoyment I found; poor coaches, dragged through immense, deserted pine forests, miserable fare, and neither birds nor quadrupeds to be seen. We at length approached Charleston, and the view of that city from across the bay was hailed by our party with unfeigned delight. Charmed, as we were, with having terminated our dreary journey, it did not occur to us to anticipate the extraordinary hospitality which awaited us there, and which led to a residence of a few of the happiest weeks I ever passed.

I jumped at once into my wood-hunting habits. All hands of us were up before day-break, and soon at work, either in the way of shooting, taking views, or drawing birds; after sunset--scribbling in our journals.... In the early part of November the alligators had gone into their winter quarters; the migratory birds were passing swiftly on towards the south, although we had had no frost. The planters considered the country as still unhealthy, and resorted to the city at night. If I had been governed by the practice and advice of many, I should not have put a foot in the mud, either salted or fresh; but difficulties of this character must be disregarded by the American woodsman, while success, or the hope of it, is before him.

And now, as you have good naturedly listened to what I have felt bound to say on the score of gratitude, I will tell you what I know you are impatient to come to--something about my proceedings at Cole's Island. It lies south from Charleston about 25 or 30 miles; there we arrived and encamped for the night: certain beef-steaks we brought with us we roasted upon sticks, and the adjacent shore provided us with excellent oysters: gaiety, good appetites, and our hearts all right, made the time pass pleasantly, and it was with some reluctance we spread our blankets, and arranged the fire preparatory to going to rest. Nothing is more valuable to a naturalist, and particularly to an ornithologist, than the first hours of the day; therefore, long ere the sun had glowed over the broad sea that lay before our camp, we had reached another island where birds resort to roost by thousands; but, notwithstanding these multitudes, not a new species did we procure. We, however, had the pleasure of observing two noble "birds of Washington," sailing majestically over the broad watery face.

But it was necessary to bring my stay in Charleston to a close, and it was somewhat difficult too. My friends had increased in number; they were in the habit of accompanying me in my shooting excursions; I was becoming very much attached to them; invitations poured in from various parts of the country; and I really believe that had I been willing, we might have remained there and in the neighborhood, if not all our lives, at least as long as would have caused a rare scarcity of the feathered tribes, in that portion of the Carolinas. But my mind was among the birds farther south,--the Floridas, Red River, the Arkansas, that almost unknown country, California, and the Pacific ocean. I felt myself drawn to the untried scenes of those countries, and it was necessary to tear myself away from the kindest friends.

We embarked on the schooner Agnes; the wind was fair, and we hoisted all sails for the Floridas. Our passage was not short; the wind changed, and we put back into St. Simon's Island Bay. This was one of the few put backs in life of a fortunate kind for me. I made for the shore, met a gentleman on the beach, presented him my card, and was immediately invited to dinner. I visited his gardens, got into such agreeable conversation and quarters, that I was fain to think that I had landed on some one of those fairy islands said to have existed in the golden age. But this was not all; the owner of this hospitable mansion pressed me to stay a month with him, and subscribed to my Birds of America in the most gentlemanly manner. This was T. B. K., Esq. But the wind shifted; I was sent for, and our voyage to St. Augustine resumed.

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