54 Deane, Letters of J. J. Audubon and S. F. Baird. [f&n 



Gents who proffer much efficiency, etc., but I do not know them 

 as I know you, and if the terms which I am about to propose to 

 you will answer your own views, I wish you to write to me at once 

 so that I may know how to prepare myself for such a Journey, and 

 under such circumstances. 



Would you like to go with me at any rate? By which I mean, 

 whether by Land, or by Water, and undertake, besides acting 

 towards me as a friend, to prepare whatever skins of Birds or 

 Quadrupeds, I may think fit for us to bring home. The Birds, 

 you might have one half as your own, the Quadrupeds, (should 

 you wish it) you might a 4th or every 4th specimen of the same 

 species, reserving to myself all that is new or exceedingly new. 



I will procure and furnish all the materials for skinning, pre- 

 paring, and saving whatever we may find in Ornithology and in 

 Mammalia, and in all probability (if you think it absolutely neces- 

 sary) pay one half your expenses from the time we leave St. Louis 

 until our return to that city. You will have to work hard, of course, 

 but then I trust that the knowledge alone which you must acquire 

 would prove a sufficient compensation, and as you already know 

 me pretty well, I need not say to you that I am not hard on the 

 nigger. 



It will be necessary for you to provide a good double barrelled 

 Gun, and an excellent Rifle, Shot bag, powder flask, &c, a good 

 hatchet, and a sufficiency of clothes for something like a 12 month's 

 Campaign. But if you will write to me at once upon the subject, 

 I can give you a more and a better a / c of all my intentions, than 

 is at present necessary. 



If all goes on as I trust it will go on, we may be back home by 

 Octr. or Novr. next, 1843. 1 



Do not lose a moment in writing to me in answer to this after 

 you have thought deeply upon the matter. 



Remember me kindly to all your friends, and believe me, 



Yours Always, 



John J. Audubon. 



77 Williams Street, New York. 



1 The Missouri River Expedition occupied the period between March 11, 1843, 

 and November 6 of the same year Baird did not accompany Audubon. He had 

 corresponded with him four months before on this same subject, as shown in a letter 

 which I published in 'The Auk' (Vol. XXI, April, 1904), stating that nothing would 

 delight him more than to go, if he could afford it. — ■ R. D. 



