350 AUDUBON, THE NATURALIST 



in that City was heavy & dull a few Gentlemen Call d to see 

 My Drawings I Generally Walked from Morning untill Dusk 

 My hands behind me, paying but very partial attention, to all 

 I saw N ew Orleans to a Man who does not trade in Dollars 

 or any other Such Stuffs is a miserable Spot = 



fatigued and discovering that the Ship could not be ready 

 for Sea for several days, I ascended the Mississipy again in 

 the Red River and once more found Myself with my Wife 

 and Child. I arrived at M rs Percy at 3 o'clock in the morn- 

 ing, having had a Dark ride through the Magnolia Woods but 

 the Moments spent afterwards full repaid me I remained 

 days and 3 Nights, was a Wedding of Miss Virginia Chisholm 

 with M r - D. Hall & c - I Left in Company With Lucy M rs 

 p erc y a house at Sun rise and went to Breakfast at My good 

 [friend's, Augustin Bourgeat]. 



The captain and mates of the Delos were friendly, 

 and whenever their vessel was becalmed, they would 

 let down a boat so that Audubon could procure the 

 stormy Petrel and numerous other birds which he was 

 anxious to examine in the flesh or depict for his "Orni- 

 thology." 



During his long voyage of sixty-five days our adven- 

 turous traveler was alternately elated or depressed by 

 hopes or fears for the future, until land was at last 

 reached on Friday, July 21, 1826. The appearance of 

 Liverpool, said Audubon, "was agreeable, but no sooner 

 had I entered it than the smoke became so oppressive to 

 my lungs that I could hardly breathe." At the customs 

 he was charged two pence on each of his drawings, "as 

 they were water-colored," but on his American books 

 he had to pay "four pence per pound," a circumstance 

 in which he was possibly favored by the following letter 

 which he had brought with him from a friend in New 

 Orleans : 



