222 



AUDUBON 



i 



BREAKING UP OF THE ICE 



While proceeding up the Mississippi above its junction 

 with the Ohio,^ I found to my great mortification that 

 its navigation was obstructed by ice. The chief con- 

 ductor of my bark, who was a French Canadian, was 

 therefore desired to take us to a place suitable for winter 

 quarters, which he accordingly did, bringing us into a great 

 bend of the river called Tawapatee Bottom. The waters 

 were unusually low, the thermometer indicated excessive 

 cold, the earth all around was covered with snow, dark 

 clouds were spread over the heavens, and as all appear- 

 ances were unfavorable to the hope of a speedy prosecution 

 of our voyage, we quietly set to work. Our bark, which 

 was a large keel-boat, was moored close to the shore, the 

 cargo was conveyed to the woods, large trees were felled 

 over the water, and were so disposed as to keep off the 

 pressure of the floating masses of ice. In less than two 

 days, our stores, baggage, and ammunition were deposited 

 in a great heap under one of the magnificent trees of 

 which the forest was here composed, our sails were spread 

 over all, and a complete camp was formed in the wilder- 

 ness. Everything around us seemed dreary and dismal, 

 and had we not been endowed with the faculty of deriving 

 pleasure from the examination of nature, we should have 

 made up our minds to pass the time in a state similar to 

 that of Bears during their time of hibernation. We soon 

 found employment, however, for the woods were full of 

 game ; and Deer, Turkeys, Raccoons, and Opossums might 

 be seen even around our camp ; while on the ice that now 

 covered the broad stream rested flocks of Swans, to sur- 



^ This was on the journey made by Audubon and his partner, Ferdinand 

 Rozier, from Louisville to St. Genevieve, then in Upper Louisiana. They 

 left Louisville in tae autumn of 1810, and Audubon returned in the spring 

 of iSii. 



