322 AUDUBON 



a venerable old soldier, and entered into conversation with 

 him. Soldier during more than thirty years, he had much 

 to relate. The Moscow campaign was spoken of, and I 

 heard from the lips of this veteran the sufferings to which 

 Napoleon's armies had been exposed. He had been taken 

 prisoner, sent to the interior for t^vo years, fed on musty 

 bread by the Cossacks, who forced them to march all day. 

 He had lost his toes and one ear b}' the frost, and sighed, 

 as he said, "And to lose the campaign after all this! " I 

 offered him a franc, and to my surprise he refused it, saying 

 he had his pension, and was well fed. The garden was 

 now crowded, children were scrambling for horse-chestnuts, 

 which were beginning to fall, ladies playing battledore 

 and shuttlecock, venders of fruit and lemonade were call- 

 ing their wares, and I was interested and amused by all. 

 Now to Baron Cuvier again. I found him sitting in his 

 arm-chair; a gentleman was translating the dedication of 

 Linne (Linnaeus) to him, as he was an.xious that the Latin 

 should not be misconstrued ; he often looked in some 

 book or other, and I dare say often entirely forgot Parker, 

 who notwithstanding has laid in a good likeness. The 

 Baron wishes me to be at the Institute to-morrow at half- 

 past one. 



September 22. I was at the Institute at half-past one — 

 no Baron there. I sat opposite the clock and counted 

 minutes one after another; the clock ticked on as if I did 

 not exist; I began the counting of the numerous volumes 

 around me, and as my eyes reached the centre of the hall 

 they rested on the statue of Voltaire ; he too had his share 

 of troubles. Savants entered one after another ; many 

 bowed to me, and passed to their seats. My thoughts 

 journeyed to America; I passed from the Missouri to the 

 Roanoke, to the Hudson, to the Great Lakes — then 

 floated down the gentle Ohio, and met the swift Mississippi 

 which would carry me to thee. The clock vibrated in my 

 ears, it struck two, and I saw again that I was in an immense 



