22 AUDUBON, THE NATURALIST 



Paradise; the loss of my ibis made me as sour as the oranges 

 that hung about me. I felt unquiet, too, in this singular scene, 

 as if I were almost upon the verge of creation, where realities 

 were tapering off into nothing. The general wildness the eternal 

 labyrinths of waters and marshes, interlocked, and apparently 

 never ending; the whole surrounded by interminable swamps — 

 all these things had a tendency to depress my spirits, notwith- 

 standing some beautiful flowers, rich looking fruits, a pure sky, 

 and ample sheets of water at my feet. Here I am in the Floridas, 

 thought I, a country that received its name from the odours 

 wafted from the orange groves, to the boats of the first dis- 

 coverers, and which from my childhood I have consecrated in 

 my imagination as the garden of the United States. A gar- 

 den, where all that is not mud, mud, mud, is sand, sand, sand; 

 where the fruit is so sour that it is not eatable, and where 

 in place of singing birds and golden fishes, you have a species 

 of ibis that you cannot get when you have shot it, and alliga- 

 tors, snakes, and scorpions. 



Mr. Bartram was the first to call this a garden, but he is 

 to be forgiven ; he was an enthusiastic botanist, and rare plants, 

 in the eyes of such a man, convert a wilderness at once into a 

 garden. 



When we had eaten our humble repast at the sweet little 

 Orange Grove Island, we left it "alone with its glory," but not 

 without a name. It was determined, nolens volens, that it 

 should be called Audubon's Island, on the St. John's river. 

 Lat. 29° 42'. 



Early in February, 1832, Lieutenant Piercy took 

 Audubon and his assistants aboard the government 

 schooner Spark at St. Augustine, and sailed for the 

 mouth of the St. John's River, which he had orders to 

 ascend in the interests of the Revenue Service. On Feb- 

 ruary 12, when they had reached a point one hundred 

 miles from the mouth of the river, the vessel, being in 

 need of repairs, was suddenly recalled. Audubon, with 



