124 Mr Audubon wi the Ohio. 



little islands are frequently overflowed, during great freshets or 

 floods, and receive at their heads prodigious heaps of drifted 

 timber. We foresaw, with great concern, the alterations that 

 cultivation would soon produce along those delightful banks. 



As night came, sinking in darkness the broader portions of 

 the river, our minds became affected by strong emotions, and 

 wandered far beyond the present moment. The tinkling of 

 bells told us, that the cattle which bore them were gently roving 

 from valley to valley in search of food, or returning to their dis- 

 tant homes. The hooting of the great owl, or the muffled noise 

 of its wings, as it sailed smoothly over the stream, were matters 

 of interest to us ; so was the sound of the boatsman's horn, as it 

 came winding more and more softly from afar. When day- 

 light returned, many songsters burst forth with echoing notes, 

 more and more mellow to the listening ear- Here and there 

 the lonely cabin of a squatter struck the eye, giving note of 

 commencing civilization. The crossing of a stream by a deer, 

 foretold how soon the hills would be covered with snow. 



Many sluggish flat-boats we overtook and passed ; some la- 

 den with produce from the different head-waters of the small ri- 

 vers that pour their tributary streams into the Ohio ; others, of 

 Jess dimensions, crowded with emigrants from distant parts, in 

 search of a new home. Purer pleasures I never felt ; nor have 

 you, reader, I ween, unless indeed you have felt the like, and 

 in such company. 



The margins of the shores and of the rivers were at this sea- 

 son amply supplied with game. A wild turkey, a grouse, or a 

 blue-winged teal, could be procured in a few moments ; and we 

 fared well, for, whenever we pleased, we landed, struck up a 

 fire, and, provided as we were with the necessary utensils, pro- 

 cured a good repast. 



Several of these happy days passed, and we neared our home, 

 when, one evening, not far from Pigeon Creek (a small stream 

 which runs into the Ohio, from the state of Indiana), a loud and 

 strange noise was heard, so like the yells of Indian warfare, that 

 we pulled at our oars, and made for the opposite side as fast and 

 as quietly as possible. The sounds increased, — we imagined we 

 heard cries of " murder;" and, as we knew that some de- 

 predations had lately been committed in the country by dissa- 



