hrough the winter's snows and frozen streams in
pursuit of his object. At thirteen he was put to the Latin school, and
continued at that until eighteen, when he returned to his mother, and
entered on the cares of his farm; having, as well as a younger brother,
been left by his father with a competency for all the correct and
comfortable purposes of temperate life. His talent for observation,
which had led him to an accurate knowledge of the plants and animals of
his own country, would have distinguished him as a farmer; but at the
age of twenty, yielding to the ardour of youth, and a passion for more
dazzling pursuits, he engaged as a volunteer in the body of militia
which were called out by general Washington, on occasion of the
discontents produced by the excise taxes in the western parts of the
United States; and from that situation he was removed to the regular
service as a lieutenant in the line. At twenty-three he was promoted to
a captaincy; and, always attracting the first attention where
punctuality and fidelity were requisite, he was appointed paymaster to
his regiment. About this time a circumstance occurred which, leading to
the transaction which is the subject of this book, will justify a
recurrence to its original idea. While I resided in Paris, John Ledyard,
of Connecticut, arrived there, well known in the United States for
energy of body and mind. He had accompanied captain Cook on his voyage
to the Pacific ocean; and distinguished himself on that voyage by his
intrepidity. Being of a roaming disposition, he was now panting for some
new enterprise. His immediate object at Paris was to engage a mercantile
company in the fur-trade of the western coast of America, in which,
however, he failed. I then proposed to him to go by land to Kamschatka,
cross in some of the Russian vessels to Nootka Sound, fall down into the
latitude of the Missouri, and penetrate to, and through, that to the
United States. He eagerly seized the idea, and only asked to be assured
of the permission of the Russian government. I interested, in obtaining
that, M. de Simoulin, minister plenipotentiary of the empress at Paris,
but more especially the baron de Grimm, minister plenipotentiary of
Saxe-Gotha, her more special agent and correspondent there in matters
not immediately diplomatic. Her permission was obtained, and an
assurance of protection while the course of the voyage should be through
her territories. Ledyard set out from Paris,