Adventurous Travel. 35 



Audubon should be left at Hendersonville, with the 

 family of Dr. Rankin, who resided in the immediate 

 neighboihood. Of the adventurous voyage to St. Gene- 

 vieve, Audubon gives this graphic account : 



" Putting our goods, which consisted of three hundred 

 barrels of whiskey, sundry drygoods, and powder, on board 

 a keel-boat, my partner, my clerk, and self departed in a 

 severe snow-storm. The boat was new, staunch, and 

 well trimmed, and had a cabin inkier bow. A long steer- 

 ing oar, made of the trunk of a slender tree, about sixty 

 feet in length, and shaped at its outer extremity like the 

 fin of a dolphin, helped to steer the boat, while the four 

 oars from the bow impelled her along, when going with 

 the current, about five miles an hour. 



" The storm we set out in continued, and soon cov- 

 ered the ground with a wintry sheet. Our first night on 

 board was dismal indeed, but the dawn brought us oppo- 

 site the mouth of the Cumberland River. It was evident 

 that the severe cold had frozen all the neighboring lakes 

 and lagoons, because thousands of wild water-fowl were 

 flying to the river, and settling themselves on its borders. 

 We permitted our boat to drift past, and amused our- 

 selves by firing into flocks of birds. 



" The third day we entered Cash Creek, a very small 

 stream, but having deep water and a good harbour. Here 

 I met Count De Munn, who was also in a boat like ours, 

 and bound also for Sfc. Genevieve. Here we learned 

 that the Mississippi was covered with floating ice of a 

 thickness dangerous to the safety of our craft, and indeed 

 that it was impossible to ascend the river against it. 



" The creek was full of water, was crowded with wild 

 birds, and was plentifully supplied with fish. The large 

 sycamores, and the bare branches of the trees that 

 fringed the creek, were favorite resorts of paroquets, 

 which came at night to roost in their hollow trunks. An 



