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224 



AUDUBON 



party were directed to proceed across the bend, towards a 

 village on the western bank of the Mississippi, in quest of 

 that commodity ; for although we had a kind of substitute 

 for it in the dry white flesh of the breast of the wild Turkey, 

 bread is bread after all, and more indispensable to civilized 

 man than any other article of food. The expedition left 

 the camp early one morning; one of the party boasted 

 much of his knowledge of woods, while the other said 

 nothing, but followed. They walked on all day, and 

 returned next morning to the camp with empty wallets. 

 The next attempt, however, succeeded, and they brought 

 on a sledge a barrel of flour, and some potatoes. After 

 a while we were joined by many Indians, the observation 

 of whose manners afforded us much amusement. 



Six weeks were spent in Tawapatee Bottom. The 

 waters had kept continually sinking, and our boat lay on 

 her side high and dry. On both sides of the stream, the 

 ice had broken into heaps, forming huge walls. Our pilot 

 visited the river daily, to see what prospect there might be 

 of a change. One night, while, excepting himself, all were 

 sound asleep, he suddenly roused us with loud cries of 

 " The ice is breaking ! Get up, get up ! Down to the boat, 

 lads! Bring out your axes ! Hurry on, or we may lose her! 

 Here, let us have a torch ! " Starting up as if we had been 

 attacked by a band of savages, we ran pell-mell to the bank. 

 The ice was indeed breaking up ; it split with reports like 

 those of heavy artillery, and as the water had suddenly 

 risen from an overflow of the Ohio, the two streams seemed 

 to rush against each other with violence ; in consequence 

 of which the congealed mass was broken into large frag- 

 ments, some of which rose nearly erect here and there, 

 and again fell with thundering crash, as the wounded 

 whale, when in the agonies of death, springs up with 

 furious force and again plimges into the foaming waters. 

 To our surprise the weather, which in the evening had been 

 calm and frosty, had become wet and blowy. The water 



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