176 LIFE OF AUDUBON. 



the regularity of a chronometer : orders were given, answered to, 

 and accomplished, before they ceased to vibrate on the ear. The 

 neatness of the crew equalled the cleanliness of the white planks 

 of the deck ; the sails were in perfect condition, and built as the 

 Shark was for swift sailing, on she went bowling from wave to 

 wave. I thought that, while thus sailing, no feeling but that of 

 pleasure could exist in our breasts. Alas ! how fleeting are our 

 enjoyments. When we were almost at the entrance of the river the 

 wind changed, the sky became clouded, and before many minutes 

 had elapsed the little bark was lying to, ' like a duck,' as her 

 commander expressed himself. It blew a hurricane : let it blow, 

 reader. At the break of day we were again at anchor within the 

 bar of St. Augustine. Our next attempt was successful. Not 

 many hours after we had crossed the bar we perceived the star- 

 like glimmer of the light in the great lantern at the entrance 

 into the St. John's river. This was before daylight ; and as the 

 crossing of the sand-banks or bars which occur at the mouths 

 of all the streams of this peninsula is difficult, and can be accom- 

 plished only when the tide is up, one of the guns was fired as a 

 signal for the government pilot. The good man it seemed was 

 unwilling to leave his couch, but a second gun brought him in 

 his canoe alongside. The depth of the channel was barely 

 sufficient. My eyes, however, were not directed towards the 

 waters, but on high, where flew some thousands of ' snowy 

 pelicans,' which had fled affrighted from their resting grounds. 

 How beautifully they performed their broad gyrations, and how 

 matchless, after a while, was the marshalling of their files as they 

 flew past us ! 



" On the tide we proceeded apace. Myriads of cormorants 

 covered the face of the waters, and over it the fish-crows 

 innumerable were already arriving from their distant roosts. 

 We landed at one place to search for the birds whose charm- 

 ing melodies had engaged our attention, and here and there 

 we shot some young eagles, to add to our store of fresh pro- 

 vision. The river did not seem to me equal in beauty to tbe 

 fair Ohio; the shores were in many places low and swampy, 

 to the great delight of the numberless herons that moved 

 along in gracefulness, and the grim alligators that swam in 

 sluggish suUenness. In going up a ,bayou we caught a great 



