JOHN JAMES AUDUBON 115 
were presented to Mr. Crawford, an 
agent of the British Minister to Mexico, 
who has come here on some secret mis- 
sion. 
“The President was engaged in the 
opposite room on some national busi- 
ness, and we could not see him for some 
time. Meanwhile we amused ourselves 
by walking to the capitol, which was 
yet without a roof, and the floors, 
benches, and tables of both houses of 
Congress were as well saturated with 
water as our clothes had been in the 
morning. Being invited by one of 
the great men of the place to enter a 
booth to take a drink of grog with 
him, we did so; but I was rather sur- 
prised that he offered his name, instead 
of the cash to the bar-keeper. 
‘We first caught sight of President 
Houston as he walked from one of the 
grog shops, where he had been to pre- 
vent the sale of ardent spirits. He was 
on his way to his house, and wore a 
