LIFE OF WILSON 



xxxvii 



Of the first volume of the Ornithology only two hundred 

 copies had been printed. But it was now thought expedient to 

 strike ofF a new edition of three hundred more; as the increasing 

 approbation of the public warranted the expectation of corres- 

 ponding support. 



The second volume was published in January 1810; and our 

 indefatigable ornithologist set out for Pittsburg, the latter part of 

 the same month, on his i^oute to Neworleans. After conferring 

 with his friends on the most eligible mode of descending the Ohio, 

 he resolved, contrary to their dissuasions, on venturing in a skilF 

 by himself; this mode, with all its inconveniences, being consi- 

 dered as best suited to his funds, and as most favorable to his 

 researches. Accordingly, on the twenty-fourth of February, he 

 embarked in his little boat, and bade adieu to Pittsburg. After 

 a variety of adventures he arrived in safety at Louisville, being 

 upwards of seven hundred miles from the place of his departure. 

 Here he disposed of his skiff; and then set out on foot for Lex- 

 ington, seventy-two miles further. At this last place he purchased 

 a horse ; and being prepared for the long and disagreeable route 

 which lay before him, he resolutely explored his way alone ; and 

 safely reached the town of Natchez^ the seventeenth of May, being 

 a distance of six hundred and seventy-eight miles from Lexington. 

 In his journal he says — " This journey, four hundred and seventy- 

 eight miles from Nashville, I have performed alone, through dif- 

 ficulties, that those who have never passed the road could not have 

 a conception of.'^ We may readily suppose that he had not only 

 difficulties to encounter, encumbered as he necessarily was with 

 his shooting apparatus and increasing baggage, but also dangers, 

 in journeying through a frightful wilderness, where almost impe- 

 netrable cane-swamps and morasses present obstacles to the pro- 



* For tlie particulars of this journey from Pittsburg to Natchez, the reader is referred to Mr. 

 Wilson's letters, which have been published in the Port Folio, new series, yoIs. iii, 499. iv, 310. vii. n't. 



VOL. IX. K 



