CHAPTEE XIII. 



Audubon Leaves Cincinnati with Captain Gumming — Voyage in Flat 

 Boat Down the Ohio and Mississippi — Akbival at Natchez — 

 Beautiful Scenery — Flocks of Vultures — New Friends in 

 Natchez — Exchanging Portraits fob Boots — Depaeture for New 

 Orleans — Loses a Portfolio — Ashore Shooting — Boat-tailed 

 Graklb — .Arrival at New Orleans — Want of Success — His 

 Purse Stolen — Interview with Jabvis, the Portrait-Painter, 

 AND Disappointment — Hears of an Exploring Expedition to 

 Mexico, and Effobts to Join it — Vandbblyn, the Painter. 



On the 12th of October, 1820, Audubon left Oincinnati in 

 company with Captain Gumming, an American engineer who 

 had been appointed to make a survey of the Mississippi river, 

 and after fourteen days of drifting down the Ohio, the flat boat 

 which contained the scientific " expedition " reached the 

 Mississippi river. The naturalist had failed to receive the 

 money due to him at Cincinnati, and vexed and discouraged, 

 he determined even without means to seek a new field for 

 employment. 



From a letter addressed to the Governor of Arkansas at this 

 date, it is evident that Audubon had determined on a lengthened 

 excursion in the pursuit of ornithological specimens, including 

 the States of Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida, afterwards 

 retracing his steps to New Orleans up the Eed Eiver, down the 

 Arkansas, and homeward to his wife. He had received letters 

 of recommendation from General, afterwards President Harrison, 

 and from Henry ^ Clay, and good prospects seemed to dawn. He 

 had determined in any case to complete one hundred drawings of 

 birds before returning to Cincinnati, and he fulfilled this resolve. 



