"EPISODES" OF WESTERN LIFE 275 



and returned to Kentucky in December of that year, 

 but whether it was upon this or some other journey 

 that he rode a wild horse through seven states in going 

 from his home at Henderson to the Quaker city, or 

 whether such a journey ever occurred, is immaterial 

 to the interest of the narrative. In this instance, how- 

 ever, we have the advantage of comparing the notes of 

 a fellow traveler, Vincent Nolte, then a merchant at 

 New Orleans. 4 First to follow Audubon's account, as 

 given in his "Episode," we are told that he rode a wild 

 mustang, named "Barro," that had never known a shoe, 

 having been recently captured near the headwaters of 

 the Arkansas. In going east he diverged from the 

 beaten track to extend his knowledge of the country and 

 of its bird life. From Henderson he passed through 

 the heart of Tennessee to Knoxville, thence to Abing- 

 ton, the Natural Bridge, and Winchester in Virginia, 

 crossed the corner of West Virginia to Harper's Ferry, 

 then to Frederick, Maryland, and on through Lancas- 

 ter to Philadelphia; there, he said, he remained four 

 days, and returned by way of Pittsburgh, Wheeling, 

 Zanesville, Chillicothe, Lexington and Louisville, to 

 Henderson. He estimated the whole distance traversed 

 at "nearly two thousand miles," and at a rate of "not 

 less than forty miles a day." Much is said in praise of 

 his favorite bay horse, and its food and daily treatment 

 are duly recorded. This horse was very docile, and 

 would wade swamps, swim rivers, and clear a rail fence 

 like an elk; corn blades as well as corn and oats entered 

 into his daily ration, to which a pumpkin and fresh eggs, 

 when procurable, were occasionally added. 



It was upon his return journey that the naturalist 

 met with Vincent Nolte, who twelve years later did his 



4 Vincent Xolte, Fifty Years in Both Hemispheres (Bibl. Xo. 1T6). 



