Santo Domingo, though repeatedly ravaged by the indiscriminate hand of man, is a noble and productive land, which, for the diversity and grandeur of its scenery and the rare beauty of its tropical vegetation, was justly regarded as one of the garden spots of the West Indies and worthy to be in truth a "Paradise of the New World." For every lover of birds and nature this semi-tropical island, and especially Les Cayes, upon its south-westerly verge in what is now Haiti, will have a peculiar interest when it is known, that there, amid the splendor of sea and sun and the ever-glorious flowers and birds, the eyes of America's great woodsman and pioneer ornithologist first saw the light of day. Jean Audubon met somewhere in America, and probably at Les Cayes, a woman whom he has described only as a "creole of Santo Domingo," that is, one born on the island and of French parentage, and who is now known only by the name of Mlle. Rabin.[35] To them was born, at Les Cayes, a son, on the twenty-sixth of April, 1785. This boy, who was sometimes referred to in early documents as "Jean Rabin, _créole de Saint-Domingue_," and who again was called "Fougère" (in English, "Fern"), received the baptismal name of Jean Jacques Fougère six months before his sixteenth birthday. The bill of the physician, Doctor Sanson of Les Cayes, who assisted at young Audubon's birth still exists, and as the reader will perceive, it is a highly unique and interesting historical document.[36] Written in the doctor's own hand, it is receipted by him, as well as approved and signed by Jean Audubon himself. This tardy discovery, along with other pertinent records in the commune of Couëron, in France, finally resolves the mystery which has ever hedged the Melchizedek of American natural history. The child's name, of course, is not given in the bill, but authentic records of Audubon's subsequent adoption and baptism agree so completely in names and dates as to establish his identity beyond a shadow of doubt. Much other documentary evidence which also has recently come to light is all in harmony with these facts, and further shows that the natal spot and time as given in the Sanson bill can refer only to this talented boy. But before turning to these legal documents we must examine the personal record of Jean Audubon's physician.