402 Life of Audubon, 



game which it contained, and pointed to some bear and 

 deer skins, adding, that the individuals to which they had 

 belonged formed but a small portion of the number of 

 those animals which he had shot within it. My heart 

 swelled with delight ; and on asking if he would accom- 

 pany me throughHhe great swamp, and allow me to be- 

 come an inmate of his humble but hospitable mansion, I 

 was gratified to find that he cordially assented to all my 

 proposals, so I immediately unstrapped my drawing ma- 

 terials, laid up my gun, and sat down to partake of the 

 homely but wholesome fare intended for the supper of 

 the squatter, his wife, and his two sons. The quietness 

 of the evening seemed in perfect accordance with the 

 gentle demeanour of the family. The wife and children, 

 I more than once thought, seemed to look upon me as a 

 strange sort of person, going about, as I told them I was, 

 in search of birds and plants ; and were I here to relate 

 the many questions which they put to me, in return for 

 those which I addressed to them, the catalogue would oc- 

 cupy several pages. The husband, a native of Connecti- 

 cut, had heard of the existence of such men as myself, 

 both in our own country and abroad, and seemed greatly 

 pleased to have me under his roof Supper over, I ask- 

 ed my kind host what had induced him to remove to this 

 Vv^ild and solitary spot. ' The people are growing too 

 numerous now to thrive in New England,' was his an- 

 swer. I thought of the state of some parts of Europe, 

 and calculating the denseness of their population, com- 

 pared with that of New England, exclaimed to myself, 

 how much more difficult must it be for men to thrive in 

 those populous countries ! The conversation then 

 changed, and the squatter, his sons and myself spoke of 

 hunting and fishing, until at length tired, we laid our- 

 selves down on pallets of bear-skins, and reposed in peace 

 on the floor of the only apartment of which the hut con- 



