AUDUBON 47 



and a half feet thick. For those days it was built on a 

 large scale, and did the sawing for the entire country." 1 



It has been said that the inside walls had many draw- 

 ings of birds on them, but this, while quite likely, has 

 never been proved; what was proved conclusively is 

 that, from his woodcutters, whose labors were performed 

 on a tract of forest land of about 1200 acres, which Au- 

 dubon purchased from the government, to those who were 

 his partners, by far the greater number had the advantage 

 of him. The New Orleans venture has a similar record ; 

 money left him by his father was lost by the failure of the 

 merchant who held it until Audubon could prove his 

 right to it, and finally he left Henderson absolutely pen- 

 niless. He writes : " Without a dollar in the world, be- 

 reft of all revenues beyond my own personal talents and 

 acquirements, I left my dear log house, my delightful 

 garden and orchards with that heaviest of burdens, a heavy 

 heart, and turned my face toward Louisville. This was 

 the saddest of all my journeys, — the only time in my life 

 when the Wild Turkeys that so often crossed my path, 

 and the thousands of lesser birds that enlivened the woods 

 and the prairies, all looked like enemies, and I turned my 

 eyes from them, as if I could have wished that they had 

 never existed." 



From Louisville Aqdubon went almost at once to 

 Shippingport, where he was kindly received by his friends 

 Nicholas Berthoud, who was also his brother-in-law, and 

 the Tarascon family. Here he was joined by his wife and 

 two sons, Victor Gifford and John Woodhouse, and again 

 I quote from Audubon's own words : " As we were 

 straitened to the very utmost, I undertook to draw 

 portraits at the low price of five dollars per head, in black 

 chalk. I drew a few gratis, and succeeded so well that 

 ere many days had elapsed I had an abundance of work; 



1 From " History of Henderson County, Kentucky," by E. L. Starling, 

 page 794. 



