290 AUDUBON, THE NATURALIST 



famous Blade-tail Deer. I am in a great bustle, the office is 

 full of Californians. 



The California party, which eventually consisted of 

 nearly one hundred young men, sought to reach the 

 goldflelds by way of Texas, Mexico and Arizona; at- 

 tacked by cholera in the valley of the Rio Grande and 

 deserted by their leader, a remnant of the company chose 

 in his stead young Audubon, who bravely conducted 

 them to their destination. John Audubon returned in 

 the following year, after thirteen of the members of 

 the party and $27,000 had been lost in the venture. 



Like a patriarch of old, as a friend had once pictured 

 him, Audubon passed the end of his days surrounded 

 by loving and able retainers, who, like "ministers of 

 state," were only too glad to execute his every wish. 

 Distinguished and handsome in age, appearing to many 

 older than he actually was, for years his snowy locks 

 and benign countenance attracted every passer on the 

 street, and for each he had a friendly look, word, or 

 greeting, until in him were fulfilled the words of the 

 prophecy: "When thou wast young, thou girdedst thy- 

 self and walkedst whither thou wouldest; but when thou 

 shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and an- 

 other shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou would- 

 est not." On the 27th of January, 1851, Jean Jacques 

 Fougere Audubon died, before attaining his sixty- 

 seventh year, "as gently as a child composing himself 

 for his beautiful sleep." 



