A Mr. Thompson accepted his bill on Colonel Smith, for a
sum which, he says, "has saved me from perdition, and will enable me to
reach Petersburgh." This journey he accomplished within seven weeks; but
he writes to Mr. Jefferson, "I cannot tell you by what means I came, and
hardly know by what means I shall quit it." Through the influence of
Professor Pallas, but more especially by the assistance of a Russian
officer, he obtained the passport of the empress, then on her route to
the Crimea, in fifteen days. His long and dreary journey having
exhausted his money, and worn out his clothes, he drew on Sir Joseph
Banks for twenty guineas, which that munificent patron of science and
enterprise did not hesitate to pay.
Fortunately, a Scotch physician, of the name of Brown, was proceeding in
the service of the empress as far as the province of Kolyvan, who
offered him a seat in his kabitka, and thus assisted him on his journey
for more than three thousand miles. Having reached Irkutsk, he remained
there about ten days, and left it in company with lieutenant Laxman, a
Swedish officer, to embark on the Lena, at a point one hundred and fifty
miles distant from Irkutsk, with the intention of floating down its
current to Yakutsk.
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