AN ORIGINAL. 115 
states, and at length reached his favourite Louis: 
iana. 
In 1830, Audubon, accompanied by his wife 
visited New Orleans. Sauntering there one 
morning, he observed a gentlemen, whose sin- 
gular appearance attracted his attention, As 
_suming to be another “odd fish” he determined 
to make his acquaintance. 
The exterior of this original might reasonably 
account for the conclusion. 
A huge straw-hat covered his head. The 
unusually broad frill of a shirt fluttered about 
his breast, and a very remarkable collar, which 
left his neck exposed negligently to the weather, 
fell over the top of his light green coat. The 
delicate hue of this garment harmonized well with 
the yellow of his glowing nankeens, and was 
brightened by a pink waistcoat, from the bosom 
of which, lurking amidst a bunch of the splendid 
magnolia flower, part of an alligator protruded, 
which seemed anxious to escape its gentle im- 
prisonment in folds of the finest cambric. 
In one of his hands the gentleman held a 
cage, plentifully furnished with nonpareils as 
richly plumed as himself—in the other sportively 
handled a silk umbrella, on which could be 
plainly read the words, “ stolen from I,” painted 
in large white characters. 
With a conscious air, he strutted along, hum: 
