9 2 Life of Audubon, 



of America became less clear ; and full of despair, I fear- 

 ed my hopes of becoming known to Europe as a natural* 

 ist were destined to be blasted. I wrote to my wife to 

 join me at Natchez, and there was hopes of it being ac- 

 complished. 



" yu^y 23. My friend, Joseph Mason, left me to-day, 

 and we experienced great pain at parting. I gave him 

 paper and chalks to work his way with, and the double- 

 barrelled gun I had killed most of my birds with, and 

 which I had purchased at Philadelphia in 1805. I also 

 began to copy the * Death of Montgomery,' from a print. 

 My drawing was highly praised by my friends at Natchez, 

 and Dr. Provan, like a good genius, insisted it should be 

 raffled. I valued it at three hundred dollars, and Dr. 

 Provan sold all the tickets but one, at ten dollars each. 

 He then put my name down for that, saying he hoped it 

 would be the winning one. The raffle took place in my 

 absence, and when I returned, my friend the doctor came 

 and brought me three hundred dollars and the picture, 

 beautifully framed, saying, ' Your number has drawn it, 

 and the subscribers are all agreed that no one is more 

 deserving of it than yourself.' " 



" September i. My wife writes to me that the child she 

 was in charge of is dead, and that consequently she had 

 determined to come on to Natchez. I received her with 

 great pleasure at the landing, and immediately got a house 

 hired, in which we might resume housekeeping. In the 

 mean time my wife engaged with a clerg}^man named 

 Davis, in a situation similar to that which she had held in 

 New Orleans. I was much pleased with the conduct of 

 Mr. Quaglass, whose kindness of heart very much belied 

 his coarse exterior. 



" October 27. I met a gentleman from Mexico, who 

 proposed to me to go to Mexico and establish a paper- 

 mill in that country. He proposed to supply the funds 



