EST AUDUBON'S LABRADOR 



very heart of winter." As Audubon was follow- 

 ing a tortuous path, he suddenly "came plump 

 upon one of God's best finished jewels, a woman. 

 She saw us first, for women are always keenest 

 in sight and sympathy, in perseverance and pa- 

 tience, in fortitude, and love, and sorrow, and 

 faith, and, for aught I know, much more. At the 

 instant that my eyes espied her, she was in full 

 run towards her cottage, holding to her bosom a 

 fine babe, simply covered with a very short skirt, 

 the very appearance of which set me shivering. 

 The woman was dressed in coarse French home- 

 spun, a close white cotton cap, which entirely 

 surrounded her face, tied under her chin, and I 

 thought her the wildest-looking woman, both in 

 form and face, I had seen for many a day. At a 

 venture, I addressed her in French, and it an- 

 swered well, for she responded in a wonderful 

 jargon, about one third of which I understood, 

 and abandoned the rest to a better linguist, 

 should one ever come to the island." 



The next day they set sail for what Mr. God- 

 win, their pilot, "called 'The Bird Rocks,' where 

 he told us that Gannets (Sula bassana) bred in 

 great numbers." At eleven o'clock Audubon saw 

 the rock plainly, "and thought it covered with 



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