Xvi INTRODUCTION. 
and at a time when, apprehensive that our intended voyage 
might be frustrated, we were all “crest-fallen.” Time, however, 
passed on, and one morning I was gladdened by being called 
upon by the Commander of the Campbell, and still more upon 
recognising in him the Lieutenant and Pilot of the Marion, 
or Lady of the Green Mantle, so frequently mentioned in the 
former volumes of these Ornithological Biographs. I knew 
that NapPoLeon CosTE was a true sea-fowl. He assured me of 
the excellence of his vessel, and gay and happy were we all 
when we removed on board the tight little sea-boat, of scarcely 
more than sixty tons burden. Proceeding down the Missis- 
sippi, we sailed through its south-west Pass, where we were 
joined by a vessel of eight tons, as a tender for our excursions 
along the shores. It was commanded by Captain WinL1aAM 
Taytor, now, I believe, a Commodore in the Texian service, 
a gentleman who has seen much of the world, an excellent 
companion, and a good hunter and fisher. 
Of our various excursions, whether by water or by land, 
between the mouths of the Mississippi and the point at which 
we returned, a detailed account would prove tedious and fa- 
tiguing ; for what interest can there be in the relation of our 
wading through mud for whole days, exposed to the scorching 
heat, and continually annoyed by myriads of insects? We 
reached the Bay of Galveston on the 24th of April 1837, and 
ransacked not only the island of that name, but all those in that 
celebrated inlet of the Mexican Gulf, which we thought worthy 
of our attention. It was a curious circumstance to me, that, 
being on board of the first American armed vessel in the 
United States’ Service that had entered the Bay, the fort of 
Galveston returned the salute of twenty-six fires from the 
