University of Virginia Library

[Extract from letter of Jefferson to William Carmichael,[3] dated Paris, March 4, 1789.—
Ford, v, p. 75.]

My last accounts from Lediard (another bold countryman of ours)[4] were from Grand Cairo. He was just then plunging into the unknown

regions of Africa, probably never to emerge again. If he returns, he
has promised me to go to America and penetrate from Kentucke to the
Western side of the Continent. I do not know whether you are
informed that in the years 1787–1788, he went from here bound for
Kamschatka, to cross over thence to the Western coast of our continent
& pass through to the Eastern one. He was arrested par ordre superieure
within two or three days journeys of Kamschatka, conveyed back
to the confines of Poland, & there turned adrift. He arrived here last
June, & immediately set out for Africa.