Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 8.djvu/32

476 through the eastern states, with the design of exhibiting his book and soliciting subscribers. It is not our purpose to trace his course in this journey, wherein he encountered hardships, vexations, and disappointments innumerable but insufficient to check his ardour. The extent of his journey may be guessed at from the following extract from one of his letters when about to return —"Having now visited all the towns within one hundred miles of the Atlantic, from Maine to Georgia, and done as much for this bantling book of mine, as ever author did for any progeny of his brain, I now turn my wishful eyes towards home." Upon the whole the result of his expedition was unsuccessful, for although he received most flattering marks of respect wherever he went, the sacrifice of 120 dollars (for the ten volumes) proved a sad check upon the enthusiasm of his admirers. His letters to his friends, in which a full account of every part of this, as well as his subsequent journeys is given, are in the highest degree interesting. In 1810, the second volume was published, and Wilson immediately set out for Pittsburg, on his way to New Orleans for the same purpose as before. On reaching Pittsburg, he was puzzled to think by what means he should descend the Ohio; but at last determined, in spite of the remonstrances of his friends, to voyage it in a small boat alone. He accordingly bought a batteau, which he named the Ornithologist, put in a small stock of provisions and water, (he never carried spirits with him,) with his never-failing fowling piece and ammunition, and pushed off into the stream for a solitary voyage of between 500 and 600 miles. This was exactly such a situation as was calculated to arouse all the romantic feelings of Wilson's soul: the true lover of nature experiences a delight approaching to ecstasy when alone in the uninhabited desert. But the whole tract of his journey was rich with the objects most attractive to the lonely voyager; he collected an immense stock of ornithological riches for his future volumes, and amused his mind at his hours of repose with the composition of a descriptive poem entitled "The Pilgrim." He reached New Orleans on the 6th of June, and arrived at Philadelphia on the 2nd of August, having been travelling since the beginning of January; during which time his whole expenses did not amount to 500 dollars. This was the most extensive of all Wilson's excursions, and although he took several others to various districts, as the volumes of the Ornithology successively appeared, we do not think it necessary here to advert to them particularly. Writing to his brother David, a year or two afterwards, in reference to these exertions to further the sale of his works, he says: "By the first opportunity I will transmit a trifle to our old father, whose existence, so far from being forgotten, is as dear to me as my own. But David, an ambition of being distinguished in the literary world, has required sacrifices and exertions from me with which you are unacquainted; and a wish to reach the glorious rock of independence, that I might from thence assist my relations, who are struggling with and buffeting the billows of adversity, has engaged me in an undertaking more laborious and extensive than you are aware of, and has occupied every moment of my time for several years. Since February 1810, I have slept for several weeks in the wilderness alone, in an Indian country, with my gun and my pistols in my bosom; and have found myself so reduced by sickness as to be scarcely able to stand, when not within 300 miles of a white settlement, and under the burning latitude of 25 degrees. I have, by resolution, surmounted all these and other obstacles, in my way to my object, and now begin to see the blue sky of independence open around me."

Wilson's reputation, indeed, and the merits of his great undertaking, had now forced themselves into notice, not only in America, but throughout