288 THE AFRICAN ASSOCIATION. 
Channel to Ostend, he proceeded by Denmark 
and the Sound to Stockholm, from which he at- 
tempted to traverse the Gulf of Bothnia on the 
ice ; but, as the middle was not frozen, was obliged 
to return. Proceeding from Stockholm into the 
Arctic Circle, he walked round the head of the 
Gulf, and descended on the eastern side to Peters- 
burgh. There his extraordinary appearance, want- 
ing both stockings and shoes, and the means of 
supplying himself with either, procured him an in- 
vitation to dine with the Portuguese ambassador, 
from whom he obtained a supply of twenty guineas 
on the credit of Sir Joseph Banks, and by whose 
interest he was permitted to accompany a detach- 
ment of stores to Yakutz, 6000 miles eastward, in 
Siberia. From Yakutz he proceeded to Oczakow 
on the coast of the Kamschatkan sea, which he 
was prevented from crossing by the ice, and oblig- 
ed to return to his former residence for the win- 
ter. At Yakutz, he was seized by two Russian 
soldiers in the name of the empress, and in the 
depth of winter, conveyed in a sledge through the 
deserts of Northern Tartary to the frontiers of the 
Polish dominions, where he was liberated, with the 
assurance, that if he returned to Russia he would 
be hanged. In the most destitute condition, he 
arrived at Koningsberg, where the credit of Sir Jo- 
seph Banks again availed him, and he obtained the 
sum of five guineas, by means of which he arrived 
1 
