Vol-XXVIIJ Deane, Audubon's Labrador Trip of 1833. 51 



St. Johns River of the Floridas at the exception of those of a few 

 species of which thousands may be seen on the outer sea islands. 

 Scarcely a day that have we been without a constant fire. We see 

 snow in all our walks. Mosquitoes and Caraboo flies in thousands 

 at every step. A growth of vegetation that would astound any 

 European garden and yet not a cubic foot of soil I Granit, Granit, 

 Granit, Moss, ]\Ioss, Moss and nothing but Granit Rock and Moss 

 of thousands of species. 



I have a tlrawing of a pair of Willow Grous with a covy of young 

 which will perhajis give you a faint idea of the exterior or superficial 

 aspect of the country, but as I have said before, the country cannot 

 be described at present. John's violin and a flute prove very agree- 

 able attaches to our expedition; nothing indeed is to me more pleas- 

 ing of a rainy, foggy cold day than the sounds of chords every one 

 of which lead me to thy side and blessed comi)any tvhen ivith thee. 

 Write to my worthy friend John Bachman, that I shall take to him 

 a cargo of i/anis, to friend Berthoud ^ say a cargo of egg shells, but 

 to dear Eliza, alas I fear no furs, 10 guineas is what we are asked 

 for a Silver gray Fox, 6 to 7 pounds for a black one and as to Sables 

 or other very fine skins, scarcely one is now to be met with for pur- 

 chase. God willing w^e will be on our passage homeward on the 

 1st to the 10th of Sept., we are told that field ice is abundant at the 

 lower end of the Belle Isle Straights, and we are also told that snows 

 begin to fall about the middle of Sept. 



For episodes I will have "A Labrador Scpiatter."^ "The Cod 

 Fisherman," 3 "The Eggers,"^ "The Sealers"'^ &c., &c. Had. it 

 proved convenient for our good and valued friend Harris " to have 

 come with us, I think he would have liked it much (particularly 

 tell him as the country bids defiance and description) and I am 

 siu'e it would have found a few means of obtaining abundance of 

 [torn]. 



1 Nicholas Augustus Berthoud, brother-in-law of Audubon. 

 - 'The Squatters of Labrador,' Orn. Biogr., Vol. II, p. 154. 

 3 'Cod-Fishing,' Orn. Biogr., Vol. II, p. 522. 

 ■» 'The Eggers of Labrador,' Orn. Biogr., Vol. Ill, p. 82. 



5 The episode of 'The Sealers' did not appear in the Orn. Biogr., nor have I ever 

 seen it in any of Audubon's writings. (R. D.) 



6 Edward Harris, Morristown, N. J. In 'The Journals' we .see that he met Audu- 

 bon at St. John, N. B., on his return from Labrador, and handed him the first home 

 letters he had received in two months. 



