350 AUDUBON, THE NATURALIST 
in that City was heavy & dull—a few Gentlemen Call4 to see 
My Drawings—I Generally Walked from Morning untill Dusk 
My hands behind me, paying but very partial attention. to all 
I saw—New Orleans to a Man who does not trade in Dollars 
or any other Such Stuffs is a miserable Spot = 
fatigued and discovering that the Ship could not be ready 
for Sea for several days, I ascended the Mississipy again in 
the Red River and once more found Myself with my Wife 
and Child. I arrived at M*S Percy at 3 o’clock in the morn- 
ing, having had a Dark ride through the Magnolia Woods but 
the Moments spent afterwards full repaid me—I remained 2 
days and 3 Nights, was a Wedding—of Miss Virginia Chisholm 
with M™ D. Hall & I Left in Company With Lucy M's 
Percy’’ house at Sun rise and went to Breakfast at My good 
[friend’s, Augustin Bourgeat]. 
The captain and mates of the Delos were friendly, 
and whenever their vessel was becalmed, they would 
let down a boat so that Audubon could procure the 
stormy Petrel and numerous other birds which he was 
anxious to examine in the flesh or depict for his “Orni- 
thology.” 
During his long voyage of sixty-five days our adven- 
turous traveler was alternately elated or depressed by 
hopes or fears for the future, until land was at last 
reached on Friday, July 21, 1826. The appearance of 
Liverpool, said Audubon, “was agreeable, but no sooner 
had I entered it than the smoke became so oppressive to 
my lungs that I could hardly breathe.” At the customs 
he was charged two pence on each of his drawings, “as 
they were water-colored,” but on his American books 
he had to pay “four pence per pound,” a circumstance 
in which he was possibly favored by the following letter 
which he had brought with him from a friend in New 
Orleans: 
