96 LIFE OF AUDUBON. 



CHAPTEE XXI. 



Audubon bbings about and Commences a Voyage down the Ohio to the 

 SoTTTH — Abandonment of the Expedition — Aeeival at Cincinnati — 

 Visit to Louisvillb, and Meeting with his Son Victor — Voyage to 

 Bayou Saea — A Plague-stkicken Town — Adventure in the Woods — 

 Meeting Mes. Audubon — Turns Dancing-master — A Droll Scene — 

 A Successful Speculation — Visit to England, and Completion op 

 THE Ornithological Woek foreseen. 



" October 24. Foe some days I have been meditating on pur- 

 chasing a skiff and going down the Ohio and Mississippi in it, as 

 I had done years before. I purchased a boat, and filling it with 

 provisions, bade my friends adieu, and started in company with 

 an artist, a doctor, and an Irishman. I hauled up the boat at 

 night and slept in it. 



" October 29. Beached Wheeling after suffering much from 

 wet and rain. The artist and doctor were disgusted with boat- 

 ing, and left. The Irishman was tired of his bargain. My 

 finances were very low. I tried to sell some lithographs of 

 General Lafayette, but did not succeed, I sold my skiff, and 

 took passage in a keel-boat to Cincinnati, with a lot of passen- 

 gers, army officers, and others. I arrived at Cincinnati, visited 

 my old house, and met many old friends in that city. 



" While at Cincinnati I was beset by claims for the payment 

 of articles which years before had been ordered for the museum, 

 but from which I got no benefit. Without money or the means of 

 making it, I applied to Messrs. Keating and Bell for the loan of 

 fifteen dollars, but had not the courage to do so until I had 



