Gallatin had an intense fondness for geography, and was delighted with La Perouse's narrative of his visit to Hudson's Bay, and of his discovery there (at Fort Albany, which he captured) of the manuscript journal of Samuel Hearne, who some years before had made a voyage to the Arctic regions in search of a northwest passage.

Gallatin and La Perouse met subsequently in Boston.
The winter of 1780-81 was passed in the cabin of the Lesderniers.

The excessive cold does not seem to have chilled Serre's enthusiasm.

Like the faun of Hawthorne's mythical tale, he loved Nature in all her moods; but Gallatin appears to have wearied of the confinement and of his uncongenial companions.

The trading experiment was abandoned in the autumn, and with some experience, but a reduced purse, the friends returned in October to Boston, where Gallatin set to work to support himself by giving lessons in the French language.