The Audubon Magazine 



Vol. I. 



JULY, 



No. 6. 



JOHN JAMES AUDUBON. 



VI. 



AUDUBON had now fairly started on 

 the journey which was ultimately to 

 lead him to the successful accomplishment 

 of his great work; but the way before him 

 was long and difficult, and his triumph 

 came only after years of delay and disap- 

 pointment. Nothing but his indomitable 

 energy enabled him to conquer the obsta- 

 cles and discouragements which at every 

 step stood in his way. 



He reached Philadelphia April 5, 1824. 

 Here he made the acquaintance of a num- 

 ber of men who were his fast friends ever 

 afterward. Chief among these were Sully, 

 the painter; Prince Charles L. Bonaparte, 

 the ornithologist; Le Sueur, the natural- 

 ist; Dr. Harlan and Mr. Edward Harris. 

 Here, too, he met his old friends Rosier 

 and Joseph Mason. He at once began to 

 look for an engraver who should reproduce 

 on metal his drawings of birds, but was 

 quite unsuccessful. In the meantime he 

 supported himself by giving lessons in 

 drawing. The Prince of Canino expressed 

 his doubt about the possibility of properly 

 engraving the plates in this country, and 

 recommended that the work should be done 

 abroad. Unable to accomplish anything in 

 Philadelphia, he went to New York, having 

 with him letters of introduction to persons 

 residing there, but his efforts to find an 

 engraver were quite as unsuccessful as they 

 had been in Philadelphia, and though he 



received much kindness, and his drawings 

 were everywhere admired, he soon became 

 discouraged and started for Albany to pre- 

 sent letters to De Witt C. Clinton and Dr. 

 Beck. Both of these gentlemen were ab- 

 sent, and as his funds were getting low, he 

 determined to see Niagara, and then to re- 

 turn South. His comments on the then 

 villages of Rochester and Buffalo read 

 curiously to-day. Of the former he says: 

 "Five j^ears ago there were but few build- 

 ings here, and the population is now five 

 thousand;" and of Buffalo: "This village 

 was utterly destroyed by fire in the war of 

 181 2, but has now about two hundred 

 houses, a bank, and daily mail." 



After a few days at Niagara Falls, Audu- 

 bon sailed from Buffalo for Erie, Penn., 

 and proceeded thence on foot to Mead- 

 ville, Penn. Here his money gave out, 

 and he took steps to replenish his purse 

 by portrait painting, and with his usual 

 success. Proceeding southward to Pitts- 

 burgh, he spent a month there, collecting 

 birds and making drawings, and toward the 

 end of October started down the Ohio in a 

 skiff. Rainy weather, however, soon put 

 an end to this mode of traveling, and at 

 Wheeling he sold his skiff and took passage 

 in a keel boat for Cincinnati. Here he 

 was obliged to borrow money to get to 

 Louisville, and before long he determined 

 to return to Bayou Sara, open a school, and 



