1.68 LIFE OF AUDUBON. 



the proximity of some of these animals, by their snufiSng the 

 air. No sooner was this perceived than, to the astonishment of 

 the party, not fewer than eight bears, I was told, made their 

 appearance. Each man being provided with his short-handled 

 axe, faced about and willingly came to the scratch j but the 

 assailed soon proved the assailants, and with claw and tooth 

 drove off the men in a twinkling. Down they aU rushed from 

 the mountain ; the noise spread quickly ; rifles were soon pro- 

 cured and shouldered ; but when the spot was reached, no bears 

 were to be found ; night forced the hunters back to their homes, 

 and a laugh concluded the affair. 



"I spent six weeks in the Great Pine Forest — swamp it cannot 

 be called — where I made many a drawing. Wishing to leave 

 Pennsylvania, and to follow the migratory flocks of our birds to 

 the south, I bade adieu to the excellent wife and rosy children 

 of my friend, and to his kind nephew. Jedediah Irish, shoulder- 

 ing his heavy rifle, accompanied me, and trudging directly 

 across the mountains, we arrived at Mauch Chunk in good time 

 for dinner. At Mauch Chunk, where we both spent the night, 

 Mr. White, the civil engineer, visited me, and looked at my 

 drawings which I had made at the Great Pine Forest. The 

 news he gave me of my sons, then in Kentucky, made me still 

 more anxious to move in their direction ; and long before day- 

 break I shook hands with the good man of the forest, and found 

 myself moving towards the capital of Pennsylvania, having as 

 my sole companion a sharp frosty breeze. Left to my thoughts, 

 I felt amazed that such a place as the Great Pine Forest should 

 be so little known to the Philadelphians, scarcely any of whom 

 could direct me towards it. 



" Night came on as I was thinking of such things, and I was 

 turned out of the coach, in the streets of the fair city, just as 

 the clock struck ten. I cannot say my bones were much rested, 

 but not a moment was to be lost. So I desired a porter to take 

 up my little luggage, and leading him towards the nearest wharf, 

 I found myself soon after gliding across the Delaware, towards 

 my former lodgings in the Jerseys." 



