EXPERIMENTS IN TRADE 241 
until their stomachs revolted and they longed for a little 
Indian meal, which was procured only with the greatest 
difficulty. 
When at last the ice broke up, splitting with reports 
like the thunder of heavy artillery, their prospects were 
dismal indeed, for their boat was immediately jammed 
by the rushing ice, and they were powerless to move 
her. “While we were gazing on the scene,” to continue 
Audubon’s record, “a tremendous crash was heard, 
which seemed to have taken place about a mile below, 
when suddenly the great dam gave way. The current 
of the Mississippi had forced its way against that of 
the Ohio, and in less than four hours we witnessed the 
complete breaking up of the ice.” Having reloaded 
their goods, they were ready to start at a favorable mo- 
ment, and taking leave of the friendly Indians, “as when 
brothers part,” they pushed on through the floating ice, 
past Cape Girardeau, to Sainte Genevieve, a town which 
Audubon characterized as “not so large as dirty,” de- 
claring that the time spent there did not yield him half 
the pleasure he had felt at Tawapatee Bottom. It was 
near a granite tower which rose from a dangerous rock 
in the river below Ste. Genevieve that Audubon caught 
sight of what he afterwards described as ““Washington’s 
Eagle,” a bird now believed to have been the true “bird 
of freedom,” the “Bald-” or White-headed Eagle, but 
in an immature state. 
Though their whisky was welcomed at Ste. Gene- 
viéve and what had cost the traders twenty-five cents, 
brought them two dollars, a gallon, Audubon heartily 
disliked the place and its people. Rozier, on the con- 
trary, who had found plenty of Frenchmen with whom 
he could freely converse, was resolved to stay. Audubon 
accordingly proposed to sell out his share in the business, 
