Physician And Mountaineer

Voyages.

The English physician John Josselyn voyaged to New England twice during the seventeenth century. His first voyage lasted several months during the summer of 1638. His second, much longer visit to America lasted from 1663 to 1671. Not much is known about Josselyn's life. He was born and he died in England. His brother Henry lived in Maine, and John visited America partly to see him. No doubt Henry had told John of the wonders of America, and that compelled him to see them firsthand. He traveled up and down the New England coast, explored rivers, and journeyed into the mountainous interior of New Hampshire. He recorded his observations in two books: New-Englands Rarities Discovered (1672) and An Account of Two Voyages to New-England (1674). Josselyn described the landscape and native peoples, but his main interest was botany.

Wilderness.

Josselyn practiced medicine at a time when...