ixiv 
LIFE OF WILSON. 
plishing my purpose; till hearing that your excellency had it 
in contemplation to send travellers this ensuing summer up the 
Red River, the Arkansaw, and other tributary streams of the 
Mississippi; and believing that my services might be of advan- 
tage to some of these parties, in promoting your excellency’s 
design; while the best opportunities would be afforded me of 
procuring subjects for the work which I have so much at heart; 
under these impressions I beg leave to offer myself for any of 
these expeditions; and can be ready at a short notice to attend 
your excellency’s orders. 
“ Accustomed to the hardships of travelling, without a fami- 
ly, and an enthusiast in the pursuit of Natural History, I will 
devote my whole powers to merit your excellency’s approba- 
tion; and ardently wish for an opportunity of testifying the sin- 
cerity of my professions, and the deep veneration with which 
I have the honour to be, 
“ Sir, 
“Your obedient servant, 
Alex. Wilson.”^ 
Kingsess, Feb. 6, 1806. 
Mr. Jefferson had in his port-folio decisive proofs of Wilson’s 
talents as an ornithologist, the latter having some time before, 
as the reader will have observed, transmitted to his excellency 
some elegant drawings of birds, accompanied with descriptions. 
Yet with these evidences before him, backed with the recom- 
mendation of a discerning and experienced naturalist, Mr. Jef- 
ferson was either so scandalized at the informal application of 
our ornithologist, or so occupied in the great concerns of his ex- 
alted station, that no answer was returned to the overture; and 
the cause of the supposed, contemptuous neglect, neither Wil- 
son nor Bartram could ever ascertain. 
Whatever might have been the views of the president, who 
unquestionably bore an effective part in scheming and encourag- 
* Wilson was particularly anxious to accompany Pike, who commenced 
his journey from tire cantonment on the Missouri, for the sources of the Ar- 
kansaw, &c. on the 15th July, 1806. 
