Geographical Cdleciions. 441 



Bri^ Narrative qf De Humboldt's Travels in Russia. 



Extract from a Letter from M. de Humboldt to M. Arago. — Oust Kamcno- 

 gorsk. Upper Irtych, Siberia, Aug. 28. 1829— Travelling for nearly the last 

 two months beyond the frontiers of Europe, to the east of the Ural, and in the 

 restless life which we pass, I have lost many oecasicms of giving you a token of my 

 existence and of iiriendship. It is impossible in this hasty letter, (we arrived in 

 this fort, on the frontier of the Step of Kirguiz, about 4 o'clock this morning, and 

 we must advance tliis night to the east towards Boucktorma, Narim, and th« 

 first post of Chinese Mongolia ;) it is impossible, I say, to communicate to you 

 the substance of the observations which we have made since our departure from 

 St. Petersburgh on the 8th of May. You wiU find no other interest in the peru- 

 sal of these lines, than that of learning that the scientific object of my journey has 

 been completed beyond my hopes : that, in spite of the fatigues I have under, 

 gone, and the distance I have travelled, (we are already more than 6G00 versts 

 irom St Petersburgh, 320 of which we have passed in this part of Asia,) my 

 health is good ; that I suffer with patience and courage ; that I have much rea. 

 «on to congratulate myself on my companions, MM. Rose and Ehrenberg ; and 

 that, laden with geological, botanical, and zoological collections from the Ural, 

 the Altai, the Obi, the Irtych, and Orenburgh, we hope to return to Berlin to- 

 wards the end of November. 



Our route has been by Moscow, Nijnei-Novogorod, and thence on the Wolga 

 to Cazan, and to the ruins of the Tatar village of Bulgari. From Cazan we as- 

 cended the Ural by the picturesque vallies of Koungour and Perme. Through- 

 out the whole journey from Novogorod to Catherineburgh, and to the platinum* 

 washings of Nijnei-Tagilsk, we were accompanied by Count Poller, whom you 

 will recollect to have seen at Paris. He has been exercising his tine talent foi 

 landscape-painting in these savage regions. Fixed by marriage in Russia, he is 

 aealously occupied in improving the working of mines. 



We spent a month in visiting the gold mines of Borisovsk, the malachite 

 mines of Goumeselevski and of Tagilsk, and the washings of gold and platinum. 

 We were astonished at the pepitas (water-worn masses) of gold from 2 to 3 lbs. 

 and even from 18 to 20 lbs, found a few inches below the turf, where they had 

 lain unknown for ages. 



The position and probable origin of these alluvia, mixed generally with frag- 

 ments of greenstone, chlorite-slate, and serpentine, was one of the principal ob- 

 jects of this journey. The gold annually procured from the washings amounts 

 to GOOO kil. The discoveries beyond 59' and 60° lat. become very important. 

 We possess the teeth of fossil elephants, enveloped in these alluvia of aurife- 

 rous sand. Their formation, consequent on local irruptions and on levellings, 

 is perhaps even posterior to the destruction of the large animals. The amber 

 and the lignites which we discovered on the eastern side of the Ural, are decided- 

 ly more ancient. With the auriferous sand are found grains of cinnabar, native 

 copper, ceylanites, garnets, little white zircons, as brilliant as diamonds, anatase, 

 albite, &c. 



It is very remarkable, that in the middle and northern parts of the Ural, the 

 platinum is found in abundance only on the western, European side. The rich 

 gold-washings of the Demidov family at Nijnei-Tagilsk, are on the Asiatic side, 

 on the two acclivities of the Bartiraya, where the alluvium of Vilkni alone has 

 already produced more than 2800 lbs. of gold. The platinum is found about a 

 league to the east of the line of the separation of waters, (which must not be con- 

 founded with the axis of the high summits,) on the European side, near the 

 course of the Oulka, at Sukoi Visnin, and at Martian. M. Schvetsov, who had 

 the good fortune to study under Berthier, and whose learning and activity have 

 been most useful duiing our travels in tlie Ural, discovered chromate of iron, con- 

 taining grains of platinum, which an able chemist at Catherineburgh, M. Helm, 

 has analyzed. 



