204 AUDUBON, THE NATURALIST 



the commonalty; and therefore inconsistent with our Republi- 

 can institutions ! By the same mode of reasoning, which I did 

 not dispute, I undertook to prove him a greater culprit than 

 myself, in erecting a large elegant three story Brick house, 

 so much more beyond the reach of the Commonalty as he called 

 them, and therefore grossly contrary to our Republican insti- 

 tutions. I harangued this Solomon of the Bench more seri- 

 ously afterwards, pointing out to him the great influence of 

 Science on a young rising Nation like ours, till he began to 

 .show such symptons of intellect, as to seem ashamed of what 

 he had said. 



At Pittsburgh Wilson met Audubon's old employer 

 and relative by marriage, Benjamin Bake well. The 

 picture which he then drew 2 of that growing hive of 

 industry will be read with interest: 



On arriving at the town, which stands on a low flat, and 

 looks like a collection of Blacksmith shops, Glass houses, Brew- 

 eries, Forges, and Furnaces, the Monongahela opened to the 

 view on the left running along the bottom of a range of hills 

 so high that the sun at this season sets to the town of Pitts- 

 burgh at a little past four. This range continues along the 

 Ohio as far as the view reaches. The ice had just begun to 

 give way in Monongahela, and came down in vast bodies for the 

 three following days. It has now begun in the Alleghany, and. 

 at the moment I write it is one white Mass of rushing ice. The 

 country beyond the Ohio to the west appears a mountainous 

 and hilly region. The Monongahela is lined with Arks, usually 

 called Kentucky Boats, waiting for the rising of the river, & 

 the absence of ice, to descend. A perspective view of the town 

 of Pittsburgh at this season, with the numerous arks and cov- 

 ered keel boats preparing to descend the Ohio, the grandeur 

 of its hills, and the interesting circumstance of its three great 

 rivers the pillars of smoke rising from its Furnaces Glass 



8 See Elliott Coues, loc. cit. 



