41 6 Life of Audubon, 



hours to improving and increasing the drawings of the 

 quadrupeds of North America, which he had begun some 

 years before in connection with the Rev. John Bachman 

 of South Carolina. 



The early pages of the journal show that Audubon 

 had been anxious to visit the great interior valley of the 

 Mississippi and the Rocky Mountains ever since he be- 

 gan to devote his time exclusively to ornithological re- 

 search ; and twenty years before his return to America, 

 he had traced out the course he wished to go. During 

 all those years of unremitting toil, the desire and hope of 

 seeing the Great Plains and the Rocky Mountains never 

 deserted him. But after he had resolved to complete and 

 publish his work on the Quadrupeds of America, he felt 

 that it would be impossible for him to do it satisfactorily 

 until he had seen with his own eyes the buffaloes of the 

 plains, and other animals of those regions whose habits 

 had never been described. 



Much of his earthly work was done ; the infirmities 

 of age were stealing upon him ; and the Journal often 

 alludes to the fact that his physical powers were not 

 equal to his mental longings. He seems to have de- 

 termined therefore to make an effort to accomplish the 

 long-cherished desire of his heart, to look on the magnifi- 

 cent scenery of the prairies and mountains of the West, 

 and to gather the materials for his Quadrupeds, which he 

 knew would probably be his last work on earth. So as 

 soon as he had settled his family at Minnie's land, where 

 he invested all the money he had made by his publica- 

 tions up to that date, he prepared at once for his last 

 great journey, the grandest of all his journeys, to the Wes- 

 tern Wilderness. 



