its fascination without a regret. His
descriptive letters to Badollet read like the "Idylls of a Faun." Those
of Gallatin, though more tempered in tone, reveal quiet content with the
simple life and a thorough enjoyment of nature in its original wildness.
In the summer they followed the tracks of the moose and deer through the
primitive forests, and explored the streams and lakes in the light
birch canoe, with a woodsman or savage for their guide. In the winter
they made long journeys over land and water on snowshoes or on skates,
occasionally visiting the villages of the Indians, with whom the
Lesderniers were on the best of terms, studying their habits and
witnessing their feasts. Occasional expeditions of a different nature
gave zest and excitement to this rustic life. These occurred when alarms
of English invasion reached the settlement, and volunteers marched to
the defence of the frontier. Twice Gallatin accompanied such parties to
Passamaquoddy, and once, in November, 1780, was left for a time in
command of a small earthwork and a temporary garrison of whites and
Indians at that place. At Machias Gallatin made one acquaintance which
greatly interested him, that of La Perouse, the famous navigator. He was
then in command of the Amazone frigate, one of the French squadron on
the American coast, and had in convoy a fleet of fishing vessels on
their way to the Newfoundland banks. Gallatin had an intense fondness
for geography, and was delighted with La Perouse's narrative of his
visit to Hudson's Bay, and of his discovery there (at Fort Albany, which
he captured) of the manuscript journal of Samuel Hearne, who some years
before had made a voyage to the Arctic regions in search of a northwest
passage. Gallatin and La Perouse met subsequently in Boston.

The winter of 1780-81 was passed in the cabin of the Lesderniers. The
excessive cold does not seem to have chilled Serre's enthusiasm. Like
the faun of Hawthorne's mythical tale, he loved Nature in all her moods;
but Gallatin appears to have wearied of the confinement and of his
uncongenial companions. The trading experiment was abandoned in the
autumn, and with some experience, but a reduced purse, the friends
returned in October to Boston, where Gallatin set to work to support
himself by giving lessons in the French language. What success he met
with at first is not known, though the visits of the French fleet and
the presence of its officers may have awakened some i