A UDUBON 29 



Victor was born June 12, 1809, at Gwathway's Hotel of the 

 Indian Queen. We had by this time formed the acquaintance of 

 many persons in and about Louisville ; the country was settled 

 by planters and farmers of the most benevolent and hospitable 

 nature ; and my young wife, who possessed talents far above par, 

 was regarded as a gem, and received by them all with the great- 

 est pleasure. All the sportsmen and hunters were fond of me, 

 and I became their companion ; my fondness for fine horses was 

 well kept up, and I had as good as the country — and the coun- 

 try was Kentucky — could afford. Our most intimate friends 

 were the Tarascons and the Berthouds, at Louisville and Shipping- 

 port. The simplicity and whole-heartedness of those days I 

 cannot describe ; man was man, and each, one to another, a 

 brother. 



I seldom passed a day without drawing a bird, or noting 

 something respecting its habits, Rozier meantime attending the 

 counter. I could relate many curious anecdotes about him, but 

 never mind them ; he made out to grow rich, and what more 

 could he wish for? 



In 1 810 Alexander Wilson the naturalist — not the American 

 naturalist — called upon me.^ About 181 2 your uncle Thomas 

 W. Bakewell sailed from New York or Philadelphia, as a partner 

 of mine, and took with him all the disposable money which I had 

 at that time, and there [New Orleans] opened a mercantile 

 house under the name of " Audubon & Bakewell." 



Merchants crowded to Louisville from all our Eastern cities. 

 None of them were, as I was, intent on the study of birds, but all 

 were deeply impressed with the value of dollars. Louisville did 

 not give us up, but we gave up Louisville. I could not bear to 

 give the attention required by my business, and which, indeed, 

 every business calls for, and, therefore, my business abandoned 

 me. Indeed, I never thought of it beyond the ever-engaging 

 journeys which I was in the habit of taking to Philadelphia or 

 New York to purchase goods ; these journeys I greatly enjoyed, 



1 This visit passed into history in the published works of each of the 

 great ornithologists, who were never friends. See "Behind the Veil," by 

 Dr. Coues in Bulletin of Nuttall Ornithological Club, Oct., i88o, p. 200. 



