CHAPTER XXVII
EASTERN VISIT AND EXPLORATIONS IN THE NORTH ATLANTIC
Bachman's success as a canvasser—Boston visit—Journey to Portland—Ascent of the St. John's—Return overland—Victor Audubon becomes his father's agent—Winter in Boston—The Golden Eagle—Stricken with illness—Expedition to Labrador planned—American support—Sails from Eastport with five assistants—Discoveries and adventures on the Labrador—Safe return—Another winter at Charleston—Sued for old debts—Experience with vultures—Advice and instruction to a son—Working habits—Return to England.
Foiled in his attempt to see the Florida coast at the season best suited to his purposes, and disappointed in his ambition to penetrate to the Far West, Audubon now turned his attention to the East and determined to follow the migratory birds to their summer homes in the North Atlantic. He left Charleston in early June, 1832, and went to Philadelphia,[20] where he remained about a month, waiting, it seems, for his wife and two sons to join him. In a letter to Edward Harris, dated at Philadelphia, June 9, 1832, he said that he had left the "National hotel, on account of the too high price, I found I would have to pay there, and removed to Camden, at a Mr. Armstrong's, where I formerly boarded"; he asked Harris to send him "a pair of fine woodchucks," as he wished to secure a drawing of those animals.
It is interesting to notice that while Audubon had been absent in Florida, his friend Bachman had busied himself in his behalf and eventually succeeded in placing three copies of The Birds of America in public institutions in Charleston. On December 23, 1831, he wrote to Audubon, who was then at St. Augustine:
I arrived in Columbia, S. C., almost too late, for the "House" had just resolved that the State was too poor to subscribe for Audubon's work. I felt that it would be a disgrace to the State; and, for the first time in my life, I turned to electioneering. And now, behold me among the back countrymen, spinning long yarns. The thing however, took, and your book is subscribed for.... I read what was said in your favor with regard to the "Rattlesnake Story," and thus far, they have not found a wrong twist in your yarn; but be careful in describing the wonders of the South and West.
Audubon wrote to Bachman from Philadelphia, July 1, 1832: "G. Ord has caused a most violent attack on my veracity to be inserted in a London journal; how will he stand mine eye, on Tuesday next at the Society, is more than I can at present tell.... Mr. Berthoud will ship you 3 volumes of the Birds of America, and the succeeding numbers; he will send a bill of sale of those."
His plan was now to visit Boston and Maine, and he left Philadelphia with his family in early August; they traveled by stage to New York, but upon finding that the city was then suffering from a periodic scourge of the cholera, tarried but a day and hastened on. The following letter which Richard Harlan sent after his friend in August of this year shows that his own city did not escape the pest:
Richard Harlan to Audubon
[Addressed] J. J. Audubon Esqr.
No Pearle st.
Boston
[Philadelphia, August, 1832.]