LAST VISIT TO COUERON 133 



them jointly by the Lieutenant, his wife, and, in this 

 instance, the aged father of Ferdinand, under date of 

 April 4, 1806. 7 According to the terms of this admira- 

 bly executed paper the partners were entitled to conduct 

 all the affairs of the grantors in reference to their prop- 

 erty in the United States to the best of their judgment 

 and ability; to carry on the "Mill Grove" farm, to the 

 extent of their part ownership in the estate, or to dis- 

 pose of this interest; "to exploit or cause to be exploited 

 the mine recently discovered on the said farm, to con- 

 sult in every important matter Mr. Miers Fisher, mer- 

 chant of Philadelphia, — as a common friend and good 

 counsellor, to keep all necessary books and registers, 

 and at the end of each year, or sooner, to strike a bal- 

 ance of the receipts and expenses of the said farm and 

 the exploitation of the mine, should there be reason 

 for it." 



To secure at this time the necessary passports for 

 their young men no doubt taxed all the resources of 

 the elder Audubon; Rozier's, said the naturalist, was 

 written in Dutch, of which he did not understand a 

 single word, while his own letter stated that he was born 

 in New Orleans. These subterfuges worked so well 

 that the inspection officer, after reading Audubon's pa- 

 per, promptly offered him his congratulations, adding 



7 For the full text of these two documents, which are so interest- 

 ing for our story, see Appendix I, Documents Nos. 9 and 10; and for 

 translations, Documents Nos. 9a and 10a. For the privilege of examining 

 and reproducing the first of these papers I am indebted to Mr. Charles A. 

 Rozier, of St. Louis, and for the second, as well as the power of attorney 

 of 1805 (see Document No. 8), referred to earlier, to Mr. Tom J. Rozier, 

 of Sainte Genevieve, Missouri. In the case of this second warrant it will be 

 noticed that the grantors signed only the minute which was filed with the 

 notaries, who, with the judge of the Court of the First Instance, affixed 

 their names to the document itself. No better illustration could be given 

 of the dignity which the French attach to the office of notary, to the honored 

 incumbents of which their private affairs are unreservedly entrusted, than 

 this elaborate judicial document. 



