templated; if otherwise, why then the royal dame has taken me much out of my way. But I pursue another route. The rest of the world lies uninterdicted. Though born in the freest of the civilized countries, yet in the present state of privation, I have a more exquisite sense of the amiable, the immortal nature of liberty, than I ever had before." He continues these remarks at some length, deploring his arrest, as an interference with his plans, but bowing with submissive stoicism to the strokes of fate.

The result of his arrest, was his banishment to the frontiers of Poland, and being forbidden on pain of death to re-enter the Russian dominions. Speaking of this, he says: "Cruelties and hardships are tales I leave untold. I was disappointed in the pursuit of an object on which my future fortune entirely depended. I know not how I passed through the kingdoms of Poland and Prussia, or from thence to London, where I arrived in the beginning of May, disappointed, ragged, penniless; and yet, so accustomed am I to such things, that I declare my heart was whole. My health, for the first time, had suffered from my confinement, and the amazing rapidity, with which I had been carried through the illimitable wilds of Tartary and Russia. But my liberty regained, and a few days' rest among the beautiful daughters of Isreal, in Poland, re-established it, and I am now in as full bloom and vigor as thirty-seven years will afford any man. Jarvis says I look much older than when he saw me three summers ago at Paris, which I can readily believe. An American face does not wear well, like an American heart.

It would be now idle to inquire into the motives which urged that old profligate despot, the Empress Catherine, into such an act of flagrant injustice, as the seizure of Ledyard. She had, no doubt, been told that his success might be in some way or another detrimental to her commerce; and without consideration or inquiry, perhaps in one of her furious fits of rage or drunkenness, she issued the order for his recall, which was executed with no less barbarity than it was given.

On his arrival at London, Ledyard, unsubdued by the bitterness of past disappointments, determined to enter upon some new theater of adventure; for, in his case, as with wanderers generally, the passion for travel but increased by indulgence.

At this time he wrote an affectionate letter to his mother, from which the following is an extract: "I wrote you last from this place nearly two years ago, but I suppose you heard of me at Petersburgh, by Mr. Franklin, of New York. I promised to write you from the remote parts of Siberia. I promise everything to those I love, and so does fortune to me sometimes; but we reciprocally prevent each other from fulfilling our engagements. She left me so poor in Siberia that I could not write you, because I could not frank the letter!" He goes on to explain the nature of his anticipated trip to Africa, speaks of his engagement with the association, and amplifies upon its expected results, giving assurances in the meantime of his most intense filial love. He also sent her specimens of the wearing apparel he had used in Siberia: "Such as I have worn," he says, "through many a scene, and was glad to get them."

The surtout coat is made of reindeer skin, and edged with the dewlap of the moose. It was made for a riding coat, and I have rode both horses and

deer with it. The first cap is of the Siberian red fox skin; it is a traveling cap, and the form is entirely Tartar. The second cap is Russian, consisting of white ermine, and bordered with blue fox skin; it cost me at Yakutsk twenty-five roubles, which is four guineas and one rouble. The surtout coat cost seventy roubles; and the fox skin cap, six. The gloves are made of the feet of the fox, and lined with Tartar hare, and cost five roubles. The frock is in form and style truly Tartar. It was presented to me, and came from the borders of the Frozen Ocean, at the mouth of the river Kolyma. It is made of a spotted reindeer calf; the edging is the same as that on the surtout.

The boots are of reindeer skin, ornamented with European cloth; the form is Tartar: they cost eight roubles. The socks are made of the skin of an old reindeer. The cloak in which they are wrapped up, was made in London. I traveled on foot with it in Denmark, Sweden, Lapland, Finland-the Lord knows where. I have slept in it, eat in it, drank in it, fought in it, negotiated in it. Through every scene, it has been my constant and hardy servant, from my departure till my return to London. And now to give it an asylum-for I have none-I send it to you. Lay it up as soon as I can I will call and lay myself up with it." It seems that he sent his mother nearly a complete suit of his traveling clothes, sufficient, at any rate, to give a correct idea of her erratic son's appearance, among the frozen wilds of Siberia. T was well he did he never "called and laid himself up with them."

Another field was now opened to the enterprise of Ledyard. He was taken into the service of the African Association, which was composed of some of the first characters in England, the object of which was to promote discoveries in the interior of that continent.

"For many ages the continent of Africa had been a neglected portion of the globe, of which the rest of the world had taken little account. The learning, and splendor, and prowess of Egypt were departed; Carthage, with all its glory, had sunk into the dust; the proud monuments of Numidian greatness had been blotted from the face of the earth, and almost from the memory of man. The gloom of this scene was heightened, not more by the ravages of time in destroying what had been, than by the contrasts which succeeding changes had produced. A semibarbarous population, gathered from the wrecks of fallen nations, enemies to the arts, and to the best social interests of man, had gradually spread themselves over the whole northern borders of Africa, and presented a barrier to the hazards of enterprise, no less than to the inroads of civilization. Whatever might be the ardor for discovery, and the disregard of danger, nobody cared to penetrate into these regions, where all was uncertainty, and where the chance of success bore no proportion to the perils that must be encountered.

There is no question, that the northern half of Africa was better known to the Romans at the time of Julius Cæsar, than to the Europeans in the middle of the eighteenth century, A few scattered names of rivers, towns, and nations, occupied the map of the interior, traced there by a hesitating hand, on the dubious authority of the Nubian geographer Edrissi, and the Spanish traveler Leo Africanus. The rhymes of Swift on this subject, were not more witty than true.

At the beginning of the sixteenth century, Leo penetrated as far as Timbuctoo and the Niger; but so imperfect were his descriptions, even of what he saw, that very little geographical knowledge was communicated by them. He was on the banks of the Niger; but it could not be ascertained from his account, whether this river ran to the east or west, nor, indeed, whether it existed as a separate stream.

In short, down to the time when the African Association was formed, almost the whole of this vast continent, its geography and physical resources, its inhabitants, governments, languages, were a desideratum in the history of nature and of man. It could not be doubted, that many millions of human beings inhabited these hidden regions. Nor were the character and condition of these people, their institutions and social advancement, mero matters of curiosity; they had a relation to the people of other parts of tho globe, and, when discovered and understood, might be turned to the common advantage of the great human family. There are no nations that may not profit by an intercourse between each other, either by an exchange of products peculiar to each, or by a reciprocal moral influence, or by both. On these broad and benevolent principles the society for promoting discoveries in Africa was instituted, and the scheme was worthy of the enlightened philanthropists by whom it was devised."

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On the committee of the African Association, at the time the arrangement with Ledyard was made, was Sir Joseph Banks, through whose agency he became connected with the enterprise. The preliminary interview which Ledyard had with Sir Joseph on this subject, is thus described by Mr. Beaujoy, then secretary of the African Association: "Sir Joseph Banks, who knew his temper, told him that he believed he could recommend him to an adventure almost as perilous as the one from which he had returned; and then communicated to him the wishes of the association, for discovering the inland countries of Africa. Ledyard replied, that he had always determined to traverse the continent of Africa, as soon as he had explored the interior of North America; and as Sir Joseph had offered him a letter of introduction, he came directly to the writer of these memoirs. Before I had learned from the note the name and business of my visitor, I was struck with the manliness of his person, the breadth of his chest, the openness of his countenance, the inquietude of his eye. I spread the map of Africa before him, and tracing a line from Cairo to Sennaar, and passed thence in the latitude and supposed direction of the Niger, I told him that was the route by which I was anxious that Africa might, if possible, be explored. He said he should think himself singularly fortunate to be trusted with the adventure. I asked him when he would set out. 'TO-MORROW MORNING!' was his answer. I told him I was afraid that we should not be able, in so short a time, to prepare his instructions, and to procure for him the letters that were requisite; but that if the committee approved of his proposals, all expedition should be used."

This interview is one of the most wonderful instances of decision of character on record. Notwithstanding his recent bitter experience, enough to have crushed the most romantic enthusiasm, Ledyard was ready to face death, by encountering new and unheard-of perils in the heart of Africa. Any other man would long have hesitated ere they would have decided to embark on such a mission, and none, except the bravest, but what would then have quailed in view of its dangers: yet Ledyard, superior to all fear in the prompt decision of an elevated spirit, gave the unexpected and surprising answer: “To-morrow morning, sir!”

Ledyard was in a situation now better suited to his wishes and nature, than ever before. From the position of seeker, he had attained, by the exhibition of his superior qualities, that of the sought, and with entire independence he could press his restless foot on the plains of Africa. Buoyed up with expectation, he thus wrote to his mother: "Truly it is written, 'that the ways of God are past finding out, and his decrees unsearchable.' Is the Lord thus great? So also he is good. I am an instance of it. I have trampled the world under my feet, laughed at fear, and derided danger. Through millions of fierce savages, over parching deserts, the freezing north, the everlasting ice, and stormy seas, have I passed without harm. How good is my God! What rich subjects have I for praise, love, and adoration. I have just returned to England, from my travels of two years, and am going away into Africa to examine that continent. I expect to be absent three years. I shall be in Egypt as soon as I can get there, and after that, go into unknown parts. I have full and perfect health. Remember me to my brothers and sisters. Desire them to remember me, for if heaven permits, I shall see them again. I pray God to bless and comfort you all. Farewell."

The character he intended to assume in Africa, was that of a trader in a caravan, which was very appropriate; such persons crossing and recrossing the country continually, in that position without molestation.

On the 30th of June, 1788, Ledyard, for the last time, left London, en. route for Africa. On the morning of his departure, in conversation with a friend, he spoke as follows, concerning his checkered life: "I am accustomed to hardships. I have known both hunger and nakedness, to the utmost extremity of human suffering. I have known what it was to have food given me as charity to a madman; and I have at times been obliged to shelter myself under the miseries of that character, to avoid a heavier calamity. My distresses have been greater than I have owned, or ever will own to any man. Such evils are terrible to bear; but they never yet had power to turn me from my purpose. If I live, I will faithfully perform, in its utmost extent, my engagement to the society; and if I perish in the attempt, my honor will be safe, for death cancels all bonds.”

Ledyard proceeded direct to Paris, where he had encouraging interviews with Jefferson and Lafayette. From thence he went to Marseilles, and crossed the Mediterranean to Alexandria, in Egypt, and passed up the Nile to Cairo. From Cairo he wrote the association a letter, which showed his zeal in their cause, and his great aims in life. "Money!" exclaims he, "is a vile slave! I have at present an economy of a more exalted kind to observe. I have the eyes of some of the first men, of the first kingdom on

earth turned upon me. I am engaged by those very men, in the most important object that any private individual can be engaged in. I have their approbation to acquire or to lose; and their esteem, also, which I prize beyond everything, except the independent idea of serving mankind. Should rashness or desperation carry me through, whatever fame the vain and injudicious might bestow, I should not accept of it; it is the good and great I look to-Fame bestowed by them is altogether different, and is closely allied to a 'Well done,' from God."

But little remains to be said of John Ledyard; what toil, suffering, and hardship could not do, was accomplished by disease. Expecting soon to start with the caravan for Sinnaar, and ardently anxious to accomplish his mission to the satisfaction of the association, he wrote a long letter to Jefferson, in the course of which he said: "From Cairo, I am to travel southwest about three hundred miles, to a black king. Then my present conductors will leave me to my fate. Beyond, I suppose, I shall go alone. I expect to cut the continent across, between the parallels of twelve and twenty degrees of north latitude. If possible, I shall write you from the kingdom of this black gentleman."

This was the last letter ever known to have been written by Ledyard to any one; the next arrivals from Cairo, conveyed the mournful intelligence of his death. Exposed, as he was, to the heat of the tropics and uncongenial atmospheric influences, in the midst of the sickly season, he became the victim of a severe bilious attack. To relieve it, he took a large dose of vitriolic acid, which produced an intense burning in the brain, that threatened the most serious consequences. Resort was had to a tartar emetic, with hopes that the acid would be evacuated. It was of no avail. He continued to sink rapidly, though the best medical skill that could be had was called into requisition. He died in November, 1788, in the 38th year of his age.

Ledyard was amiable, and kind, grateful for benefits, humane, and remarkable for his disinterestedness. His primary object in his travels, was to benefit mankind by his discoveries. Mr. Beaujoy, the secretary of the African Association, thus describes him: "To those who have never seen Mr. Ledyard, it may not, perhaps, be uninteresting to know that his person, though scarcely exceeding the middle size, was remarkably expressive of activity and strength, and that his manners, though unpolished, were neither unpleasing nor uncivil. Little attentive to difference of rank, he seemed to consider all men as his equals, and as such he respected them. His genius, thougn uncultivated and irregular, was original and comprehensive. Ardent in his wishes, yet calm in his deliberations; daring in his purposes, but guarded in his measures; impatient of control, yet capable of strong endurance; adventurous beyond the conception of ordinary men, yet wary and considerate, and attentive to all precautions, he appeared to be formed by nature for achievements of hardihood and peril."