18253 The Boatload of Knowledge 



In the pages of The Disseminator appeared the Say 

 name of Thomas Say, another member of the Com- 

 munity, who wrote concerning the shells, insects, 

 and birds of the Wabash. Say had already won 

 fame as an explorer on Long's expedition to the 

 Rocky Mountains, and was among those who came 

 down the Ohio River from Pittsburgh in the famous 

 "Boatload of Knowledge.'* He was a close and 

 conscientious observer, and when he died it was 

 asserted that "he had done more to make known 

 the Zoology of this country than any other man." 

 One of his friends, with a touch of Say's own modesty, 

 said: "He will ever be remembered as one who did 

 honor to his country and enlarged the boundaries 

 of human knowledge." 



Another of our most attractive pioneer natural- 

 ists, the French artist, Charles A. Le Sueur, also 

 arrived at New Harmony with the "Boatload of 

 Knowledge." A friend of Cuvier, with an established 

 reputation as naturalist and artist, he had been 

 around the world on Peron's celebrated voyage. 

 In the drawing and painting of animals he showed 

 rare skill, and his woodcuts of the fishes of the Great 

 Lakes are among the most lifelike ever published. 

 It was he who painted the drop curtain of the Com- 

 munity Hall; this represented Niagara Falls with 

 "the other marvel of the New World," the rattle- 

 snake, coiled beside it! Richard Owen was a favorite 

 with Le Sueur, and once told me how he used to wade 

 barefooted in the bayous of Posey County to gather 

 mussel shells for the gifted naturalist. 



Robert Dale Owen was long and favorably known The 

 as a charming writer, one of the circle of essayists 

 who early gave to The Atlantic Monthly its high 



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