EXPEDITION TO THE MISSOURI 253 



ing to the American Fur Company, with a motley crowd 

 of trappers, employed by the Company, representing 

 French Creoles, Canadian French, Indians, and other 

 nationalities. 



During this journey, which lasted eight months, Au- 

 dubon kept a voluminous journal, which was written in 

 a fine hand on large sheets of linen paper that could be 

 easily rolled and carried in his pocket; this was after- 

 wards sent to Bachman, was returned, and was lost for 

 fifty years, or until 1896, when it was recovered from an 

 old secretary by Audubon's granddaughters, one of 

 whom published it in 1898. 5 It is a highly interesting 

 and spirited narrative from beginning to end, and 

 abounds in graphic pictures of the Indians and trappers, 

 the military posts and pioneer settlements, the abundant 

 bird life and big game, the biggest of which, the buffalo, 

 was then seen by Audubon in a state of nature for 

 the first time, the grand and turbulent rivers, and the 

 smiling or frowning face of the great wilderness so 

 soon to be changed by the devastating hands of civilized 

 man. 



What Audubon thought to be a new finch, discov- 

 ered near the Snake Hills in Missouri, was named for 

 Edward Harris, and though it proved to have been pre- 

 viously described, the bird is still known as "Harris' 

 Finch"; a few days later a new vireo, Vireo bellii^ re- 

 ceived the name of John G. Bell, his taxidermist, and 

 similar honors were passed to artist Isaac Sprague, to 

 whom was dedicated the little titlark, Alauda spragueii, 

 now Anihus spraguei. 



In those days of river navigation, the frequent tying 

 up for fuel or necessary repairs, not to speak of ground- 



6 See Maria R. Audubon, Audubon and his Journals (Bibl. No. 86), 

 vol. i, pp. 453-532, and vol. ii, pp. 1-196. 



