ECCENTRIC ENGLISH TRAVELLER. 
4 $ 
been with him in the capacity of a corporal in Captain Cook’s 
last voyage; after which he is said to have been a colonel in the 
army of the United States during the war. He had formed th&' 
design of going round the world in the literal sense of the word, 
and for that purpose went to Petersburg, in order to begin with 
Russia; and on reaching the eastern boundaries of Asia, to wait 
for some vessel in which he might pass over to the English set¬ 
tlements. The absurdity of this enterprize is sufficiently mani¬ 
fest, from the circumstance of his intending to travel through a 
civilized country, without money or letters of recommendation; 
and afterwards to cross those boundless tracks on foot, thinly 
clad in winter, through which we had laboured with infinite dif¬ 
ficulty on horseback, and in the warmest clothing. Where 
would he have found an opportunity of being conveyed over the 
water to the place of his destination ? and supposing that he 
could have ingratiated himself with the savages, yet what end¬ 
less mountains and deserts lie between Russia and the single 
inhabited coast in those regions! He was relieved from the ne¬ 
cessity of walking as far as Jakutsk, by the civility of the 
Russian travellers, whom he met on the road, who carried him 
from place to place without any recompence. Here he met 
with still greater kindness, being admitted to the house and table 
of the commander, and receiving as a present from him a warm 
dress, more fitted for the cold season, which had commenced : 
and yet, the only return which Mr. Ledyard made for this ex¬ 
traordinary hospitality, was to calumniate and abuse every one; 
and finally challenge his benefactor for remonstrating with him 
on the impropriety of his behaviour. Idle arrival of Mr. Bil¬ 
lings, at this moment, prevented any farther serious consequences 
from this affair, by his taking this man with him to Irkutsk on 
his departure for that place. The commander wrote a letter of 
accusation against him to the governor-general, in consequence 
of which he \te taken into custody on his arrival at Irkutsk, 
and sent from thence to St. Petersburg, on the charge of dis¬ 
orderly conduct. 
Tn Mr. Billings’s absence I was commissioned to set off to the 
mouth of the river Maia, for the purpose of building there 50 
canoes. I therefore first dispatched the steersman with some of 
the people, and followed him as soon as I had collected the 
building materials. After crossing the Lena, we passed through 
woods, meadows, and lakes, in the course of which we occa¬ 
sionally met with scattered jarts: these were, however, quickly 
succeeded by bare mountainous countries. 
On the fourth day of our journey, about 162 versts distance 
from Jakutsk, we came to the slobode Amginsk, which was re¬ 
markable for having been formerly the seat of the wogewodship. 
