VOYAGE TO ST. GENEVIEVE. 25 



to St. Genevieve, a settlement on the Mississippi river, and 

 until it was ascertained how the enterprise would prosper, 

 Mrs. Audubon should be left at Henderson ville, with the family 

 of Dr. Parkin, who resided in the immediate neighbourhood. Of 

 •the adventurous voyage to St. Genevieve, Audubon gives this 

 graphic account : — 



" Putting our goods, which consisted of three hundred barrels 

 of whisky, sundry dry goods, and powder, on board a keel-boat, 

 my partner, my clerk, and self departed in a severe snow-storm. 

 The boat was new, staunch, and well trimmed, and had a cabin 

 in her bow. A long steering oar, made of the trunk of a slender 

 tree, about sixty feet in length, and shaped at its outer extremity 

 like the fin of a dolphin, helped to steer the boat, while the 

 four oars from the bow impelled her along, when going with 

 the current, about five miles an hour. 



" The storm we set out in continued, and soon covered the 

 ground with a wintry sheet. Our first night on board was dismal 

 indeed, but the dawn brought us opposite the mouth of the 

 Cumberland River. It was evident that the severe cold had 

 frozen all the neighbouring lakes and lagoons, because thousands 

 of wild water-fowl were flying to the river, and settling them- 

 selves on its borders. We permitted our boat to drift past, and 

 amused ourselves by firing into flocks of birds. 



" The third day we entered Cash Creek, a very small stream, 

 but having deep water and a good harbour. Here I met Count 

 Demun, who was also in a boat like ours, and bound also for 

 St. Genevieve. Here we learned that the Mississippi was covered 

 with floating ice of a thickness dangerous to the safety of 

 our craft, and indeed that it was impossible to ascend the river 

 against it. 



" The creek was full of water, was crowded with wild birds, 

 and was plentifully supplied with fish. The large sycamores, 

 and the bare branches of the trees that fringed the creek, were 

 favourite resorts of paroquets, which came at night to roost in 

 their hollow trunks. An agreeable circumstance was an encamp- 

 ment of about fifty families of Shawnee Indians, attracted to the 

 spot by the mast of the forest, which brought together herds of 

 deer, and many bears and racoons. 



" Mr. Eosier, whose only desire was to reach the destinatioix 



