. Audubon and his journals [microform]. Birds; Ornithology; Oiseaux; Ornithologie. 222 AUDUBON. i BREAKING UP OF THE ICE While proceeding up the Mississippi above its junction with the Ohio,^ I found to my great mortification that its navigation was obstructed by ice. The chief con- ductor of my bark, who was a French Canadian, was therefore desired to take us to a place suitable for winter quarters, which he accordingly did, bringing us into a great bend of the river called Tawapatee Bottom. The waters were unusually low, the thermometer indicated excessive cold, the earth all around was cove
. Audubon and his journals [microform]. Birds; Ornithology; Oiseaux; Ornithologie. 222 AUDUBON. i BREAKING UP OF THE ICE While proceeding up the Mississippi above its junction with the Ohio,^ I found to my great mortification that its navigation was obstructed by ice. The chief con- ductor of my bark, who was a French Canadian, was therefore desired to take us to a place suitable for winter quarters, which he accordingly did, bringing us into a great bend of the river called Tawapatee Bottom. The waters were unusually low, the thermometer indicated excessive cold, the earth all around was covered with snow, dark clouds were spread over the heavens, and as all appear- ances were unfavorable to the hope of a speedy prosecution of our voyage, we quietly set to work. Our bark, which was a large keel-boat, was moored close to the shore, the cargo was conveyed to the woods, large trees were felled over the water, and were so disposed as to keep off the pressure of the floating masses of ice. In less than two days, our stores, baggage, and ammunition were deposited in a great heap under one of the magnificent trees of which the forest was here composed, our sails were spread over all, and a complete camp was formed in the wilder- ness. Everything around us seemed dreary and dismal, and had we not been endowed with the faculty of deriving pleasure from the examination of nature, we should have made up our minds to pass the time in a state similar to that of Bears during their time of hibernation. We soon found employment, however, for the woods were full of game ; and Deer, Turkeys, Raccoons, and Opossums might be seen even around our camp; while on the ice that now covered the broad stream rested flocks of Swans, to sur- ^ This was on the journey made by Audubon and his partner, Ferdinand Rozier, from Louisville to St. Genevieve, then in Upper Louisiana. They left Louisville in tae autumn of 1810, and Audubon returned in the spring of Please note that these images a
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