246 AUDUBON 



now went regularly to work, and scraped at the tree with 

 care, until three hacks as plain as any three notches ever 



were, could be seen. Mr. and the other gentlemen 



were astonished, and, I must allow, I was as much sur- 

 prised as pleased myself. I made affidavit of this remark- 

 able occurrence in presence of these gentlemen. Mr. 



gained his cause. I left Green River forever, and came to 

 where we now are ; and, sir, I wish you a good night." 



I trust, kind reader, that when I again make my appear- 

 ance with another volume of Ornithological Biography, I 

 shall not have to search in vain for the impression which 

 I have made, but shall have the satisfaction of finding its 

 traces still unobliterated. I now withdraw, and, in the 

 words of the noted wanderer of the Western wilds, " wish 

 you a good night." 



NATCHEZ IN 1820 



One clear, frosty morning in December I approached in 

 my flatboat the city of Natchez. The shores were crowded 

 with boats of various kinds, laden with the produce of 

 the Western country ; and there was a bustle about them 

 such as you might see at a general fair, each person 

 being intent on securing the advantage of a good market. 

 Yet the scene was far from being altogether pleasing, 

 for I was yet " under the hill ; " but on removing from 

 the Lower Town I beheld the cliffs on which the city, 

 properly so called, has been built. Vultures unnumbered 

 flew close along the ground on expanded pinions, search- 

 ing for food ; large pines and superb magnolias here and 

 there raised their evergreen tops towards the skies ; while 

 on the opposite shores of the Mississippi vast alluvial 

 beds stretched along, and the view terminated with the 

 dense forest. Steamers moved rapidly on the broad 

 waters of the great stream ; the sunbeams fell with a 



