VISIT TO GREAT EGG HARBOUE. 159 



" My state-room companion was a colonel from Eussia, named 

 Sir Isaac Coflfin, and he did all he could to make the voyage as 

 pleasant as possible under the circumstances. I was well 

 received in New York by all my acquaintances, and Dr. Pax- 

 allis took me to the Collector of the Customs, who, on reading 

 President Jackson's letters to me, gave free admission to my 

 books and luggage. My work was exhibited here, and a report 

 made on it to the New York Lyceum; and I made the 

 acquaintance of Mr. William Cooper, the friend of Charles 

 Bonaparte, a fine kind person. 



" May 14. I left New York for Philadelphia, in company 

 with Mr. Thomas Wharton, an excelleni, but not remarkably 

 intellectual man, and took board with Mrs. Bradley, in Arch 

 Street. There I spent three days, and then removed to 

 Camden, New Jersey, where I spent three weeks in observing 

 the habits of the migratory warblers and other birds which 

 arrive in vast numbers in the spring. From there I returned 

 to Philadelphia to visit the sea-shores of New Jersey." 



Here follows his elaborate account of that visit. 



"Great Egg Haebode. 



" Having made all the necessary preparations to visit the sea- 

 shores of New Jersey, for the purpose of making myself 

 acquainted with their feathered inhabitants, I left early in 

 June. The weather was pleasant, and the country seemed to 

 smile in the prospect of bright days and gentle gales. Fisher- 

 men-gunners passed daily between Philadelphia and the 

 various small seaports, with Jersey waggons laden with fish, 

 fowls, and other provision, or with such articles as were required 

 by the families of those hardy boatmen ; and I bargained with 

 one of them to take myself and my baggage to Great Egg 

 Harbour. One afternoon, about sunset, the vehicle halted at 

 my lodgings, and the conductor intimated that he was anxious 

 to proceed as quickly as possible. A trunk, a couple of guns, 

 and such other articles as are found necessary by persons whose 

 pursuits are similar to mine, were immediately thrust into the 

 waggon, and were followed by their owner. The conductor 

 whistled to his steeds, and off we went at a round pace over the 

 loose and deep sand that in almost every part of this state forms 



