On the 12th May 1732, he set out alone, equipped as follows:--"My clothes," says he, in his Lachesis Lapponica, "consisted of a light coat of West Gothland linsey-woolsey cloth without folds, lined with red shalloon, having small cuffs and collar of shag; leather breeches; a round wig; a green leather cap, and a pair of half-boots. I carried a small leather bag, half an ell in length, but somewhat less in breadth, furnished on one side with hooks and eyes, so that it could be opened and shut at pleasure. This bag contained one shirt; two pair of false sleeves; two half-shirts; an ink-stand, pencase, microscope, and spying-glass; a gauze cap to protect me occasionally from the gnats; a comb; my journal, and a parcel of paper stitched together for drying plants, both in folio; my manuscript Ornithology, Flora Uplandica, and Characteres Generici. I wore a hanger at my side, and carried a small fowling-piece, as well as an octangular stick, graduated for the purpose of measuring. My pocket-book contained a passport from the Governor of Upsal, and a recommendation from the Academy." Nature wore her most delightful aspect; the dandelion, the violet, and the primrose, unfolded their blossoms to the sun; the skylark chanted its lively song as it soared aloft in the clear sky; and the redwing warbled its love-notes from the lofty pines. How delightful must have been the feelings of the young naturalist, as he advanced toward the scene of those anticipated discoveries, which were to immortalize his name, or at least to increase the sphere of his ideas, and perhaps form the basis of his fortune! As he advanced, "the redwing, the cuckoo, the black-grous, and the mountain-finch, with their various notes, made a concert in the forest, to which the lowing herds of cattle under the shade of the trees formed a bass." He proceeded through Helsingland, Angermanland, and West Bothland, to Lycksele Lapland, where he embarked on a large river, during his voyage on which he was gratified by the sight of numerous birds. But a succession of cataracts occurring soon after, the owner of the boat, inverting its position, placed it on his head, and "scampered away over hills and valleys, so that the devil himself could not have overtaken him."