40 
MEMOIR OF 
gerous rivers — with hurried marches and many- 
other inconveniences to encounter, — yet so far am 
I from being satisfied with what I have seen, or 
discouraged by the fatigues which every traveller 
must submit to, that I feel more eager than ever to 
commence some more extensive expedition, where 
scenes and subjects, eutirely new and generally un- 
known, might reward my curiosity; and where, 
perhaps, my humble acquisitions might add some- 
thing to the stores of knowledge. For all the 
hazards and privations incident to such an under- 
taking, I feel confident iu my own spirit and resolu- 
tion. ith no family to enchain my affections — 
no ties but those of friendship — and the most ardent 
love to my adopted country — with a constitution 
which hardens amidst fatigues — and with a dis- 
position sociable and open, which can find itself at 
home by an Indian fire in the depth of the woods, 
as well as in the best apartment of the civilized ; — 
I have at present a real design of becoming a tra- 
veller." 
On the 2d July 1805, he again writes to Bartram, 
after describing the pinching poverty which he had 
to bear. “ I dare say you will smile at my pre- 
sumption, when I tell you that I have seriously 
begun to make a collection of drawings of the birds 
to be found in Pennsylvania, or that occasionally 
pass through it. Twenty-eight, as a beginning, I 
send for your opinion." In his examination of the 
volumes of Edwards, Wilson found that he had 
etched his own plates, a process of detail which 
