the happy groups, loath to separate. In the still clear sky began to sparkle the distant lamps of heaven. One might have thought that Nature herself smiled on the joy of her children. Supper now appeared on the tables and after all had again refreshed themselves preparations were made for departure. The lover hurried for the steed of his fair one, the hunter seized the arm of his friend, families gathered into loving groups and all returned in peace to their happy homes.
Episode: Journey Up the Mississippi
From Louisville the Audubons and their partnerFerdinand Rozier moved in 1810 toHenderson, Kentucky, on theOhio River about 175 miles upriver from its junction with the Mississippi—the western edge of frontier settlement. That winter Audubon and Rozier filled akeelboat with barrels of Kentucky whiskey to sell in the markets of Missouri Territory and floated off down the Ohio on Christmas Day
.
About the end of December, some eighteen years ago, I left my family at a village near Henderson, in the lower part of Kentucky, being bound on an expedition to the upper parts of the Mississippi. I started with my friend Ferdinand Rozier in a vessel there termed a keelboat: an open boat with a covered stern which forms the cabin, over which projects the slender trunk of some tree (about sixty feet long) as a steering oar; the boat being impelled by four oars worked in the bow, at the rate of about five miles an hour, going with the current. The banks of the Ohio were already very dreary; indeed nothing green remained except the hanging canes that here and there bordered its shores, and the few dingy grape leaves, which hardly invited the eye to glance towards them.
We started in a heavy snowstorm, and our first night was indeed dismal; but as day began to appear, the storm ceased, and we found ourselves opposite the mouth of theCumberland River, which flows from the state of Tennessee, passing Nashville, and is a tolerably navigable stream for many hundred miles. Here the Ohio spreads to a considerable width and forms in summer a truly magnificent river, and is even at this season broad and beautifully transparent, though so shallow that it is often fordable from the Illinois shore to Cumberland Island. Vast trees overhang both banks, and their immense masses of foliage are reflected in the clear mirror.
Ere long we passed the mouth of the Tennessee River and Fort Massacre [i.e., Fort Massiac] and could easily perceive that the severe and sudden frost which had just set in had closed all the small lakes and lagoons in the neighborhood, as thousands of wild waterfowl were flying and settling themselves on the borders of the Ohio. Suffering our boat to drift with the stream whenever large flocks approached us, we shot a great number of them.
About the third day of our journey we entered the mouth ofCache Creek, a very small stream, but at all times a sufficient deep and good harbor. Here I met a French count, a celebrated traveler, bound like ourselves to St. Genevieve, Upper Louisiana (now the State of Missouri). We soon learned that the Mississippi was covered by thick ice, and that it was therefore impossible to ascend it. Cache Creek is about six miles above the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi. The stream flows from some hills to the northward of its mouth, which are covered with red and black oak, sumac and locust trees; and were formerly said to contain valuable minerals, of which they have since proved to be totally destitute. The point of land between the creek and the junction of the two rivers is all alluvial and extremely rich soil covered with heavy black walnut, ash and pecan trees and closely tangled canes and nettles that are in summer at least six feet high. It is overflowed by both rivers during their freshes.
The creek, now filled by the overplus of the Ohio, abounded with fish of various sorts and innumerable ducks driven by winter to the south from the Polar Regions. Though the trees were entirely
Episode: Journey Up the Mississippi
From Louisville the Audubons and their partnerFerdinand Rozier moved in 1810 toHenderson, Kentucky, on theOhio River about 175 miles upriver from its junction with the Mississippi—the western edge of frontier settlement. That winter Audubon and Rozier filled akeelboat with barrels of Kentucky whiskey to sell in the markets of Missouri Territory and floated off down the Ohio on Christmas Day
.
About the end of December, some eighteen years ago, I left my family at a village near Henderson, in the lower part of Kentucky, being bound on an expedition to the upper parts of the Mississippi. I started with my friend Ferdinand Rozier in a vessel there termed a keelboat: an open boat with a covered stern which forms the cabin, over which projects the slender trunk of some tree (about sixty feet long) as a steering oar; the boat being impelled by four oars worked in the bow, at the rate of about five miles an hour, going with the current. The banks of the Ohio were already very dreary; indeed nothing green remained except the hanging canes that here and there bordered its shores, and the few dingy grape leaves, which hardly invited the eye to glance towards them.
We started in a heavy snowstorm, and our first night was indeed dismal; but as day began to appear, the storm ceased, and we found ourselves opposite the mouth of theCumberland River, which flows from the state of Tennessee, passing Nashville, and is a tolerably navigable stream for many hundred miles. Here the Ohio spreads to a considerable width and forms in summer a truly magnificent river, and is even at this season broad and beautifully transparent, though so shallow that it is often fordable from the Illinois shore to Cumberland Island. Vast trees overhang both banks, and their immense masses of foliage are reflected in the clear mirror.
Ere long we passed the mouth of the Tennessee River and Fort Massacre [i.e., Fort Massiac] and could easily perceive that the severe and sudden frost which had just set in had closed all the small lakes and lagoons in the neighborhood, as thousands of wild waterfowl were flying and settling themselves on the borders of the Ohio. Suffering our boat to drift with the stream whenever large flocks approached us, we shot a great number of them.
About the third day of our journey we entered the mouth ofCache Creek, a very small stream, but at all times a sufficient deep and good harbor. Here I met a French count, a celebrated traveler, bound like ourselves to St. Genevieve, Upper Louisiana (now the State of Missouri). We soon learned that the Mississippi was covered by thick ice, and that it was therefore impossible to ascend it. Cache Creek is about six miles above the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi. The stream flows from some hills to the northward of its mouth, which are covered with red and black oak, sumac and locust trees; and were formerly said to contain valuable minerals, of which they have since proved to be totally destitute. The point of land between the creek and the junction of the two rivers is all alluvial and extremely rich soil covered with heavy black walnut, ash and pecan trees and closely tangled canes and nettles that are in summer at least six feet high. It is overflowed by both rivers during their freshes.
The creek, now filled by the overplus of the Ohio, abounded with fish of various sorts and innumerable ducks driven by winter to the south from the Polar Regions. Though the trees were entirely
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