244 AUDUBON, THE NATURALIST 



clock strikes four I am up, and soon at work. From this hour 

 until seven, I have no interruptions. I hope in this way to 

 steal time to write about Quadrupeds. When I get fairly under 

 way, as I am now, I am not easily diverted from the object 

 before me, and nothing but ill health or domestic affliction 

 will keep me back. 



J. B. 



On September 12 Audubon set out on a canvassing 

 tour of Canada, on which he went as far north as Que- 

 bec; as he passed his home, he hailed his sons, who were 

 sailing on the river, and the sight of them at this moment 

 brought tears to his eyes. Whitehall, New York, was 

 reached on September 13, St. Johns, Canada, on the 

 following day, and on the 15th he was in Montreal; 

 three days were spent at Quebec (September 16-18), 

 where, as at other points, he met with the most gratify- 

 ing success. After reaching home in October, the fol- 

 lowing glowing account of this tour and of the attrac- 

 tions of his new estate on the Hudson was given in a 

 letter to Dr. Benjamin Phillips of London, 3 dated 

 from "New York, 7th Nov., 1842": 



Audubon to Dr. Benjamin Phillips 



I went on a tramp to the Canadas, leaving our comfortable 

 abode on the 12th of Sepr. last and was absent for a whole 

 month. My Journey extended to something like 1500 miles: 

 during which I visited for the first time, the North-American 

 Gibralter [Quebec], the sight of which was as new to me as 

 it was wonderful in the days of old. The views (for I must 

 speak in the plural) from the Citadel, are as far as I have seen 

 the grandest and the most sublime I ever gazed upon. The 

 St. Laurence River, is noble indeed, and when we know that 

 that stream carried forth to t he Atlantic the congregating 



3 See Vol. II, p. 144. 



