196 AUDUBON, THE NATURALIST 



Louisville at this time was a small trading and agri- 

 cultural center of barely a thousand people. 9 Though 

 the early promises of business there were not fulfilled, 

 Audubon and his wife at once entered upon a happy 

 period, for they made many friends in a new country 

 settled by whole-hearted, well-to-do planters; the men 

 were fond of good horses and of hunting, and the nat- 

 uralist, who was also a merchant, was welcomed among 

 them as a kindred spirit. But, said Audubon, "birds 

 were birds then as now, and my thoughts were ever and 

 anon turning towards them as the objects of my greatest 

 delight. I shot, I drew, I looked on nature only; my 

 days were happy beyond human conception, and beyond 

 that I really cared not. ... I seldom passed a day 

 without drawing a bird, or noting something respecting 

 its habits, Rozier meantime attending the counter." 



To revert again to the business affairs of the Audu- 

 bon-Rozier firm at Louisville, an interesting record has 

 been preserved in a letter 10 written by Thomas Bake- 

 well, a former fellow-clerk of the naturalist in the senior 

 Bakewell's counting-house in New York; this was in- 

 cluded with the statement of account, referred to above. 



Thomas Bakewell to Audubon $ Rozier 



[At bottom of account sheet] NEW YORK, Decem?. 13th. 1808 

 MESS RS . J. AUDUBON & F. ROZIER 



Louisville 

 GENT*. 



I have now the pleasure to hand } r ou your account current 

 with my Father's Estate according to your desire as expressed 



9 In 1800 the population of Louisville was 600, and in 1810 it had 

 risen to 1,350; see Charles Cist, Cincinnati in 1841 (Cincinnati, 1841). 



10 For this and the letter of Thomas Bakewell's uncle, William Bake- 

 well, which follows later, I am indebted to Mr. Tom J. Rozier; see Note, 

 Vol. I, p. 133, and for accompanying "Account Current" of Audubon & 

 Rozier, Appendix I, Document No. 11. 



