272 CARNEGIE INSTITUTION 



At my request Professor W. M. Davis assumed charge of the 

 physico-geographical part of the preliminary reconnaissance. 



Itinerary. 



I left Boston March i8, accompanied by Mr. R. W. Pumpelly as 

 assistant, and stopping over at London, Paris, and Berlin, reached 

 St. Petersburg on April 23. There I had to remain several weeks 

 to perfect arrangements and obtain the papers necessarj' for an ex- 

 tended journey in Turkestan. On Maj- 15 we left St. Petersburg 

 with an interpreter, and having been joined at Baku by Professor 

 Davis and Mr. E. Huntington, a research assistant of the Carnegie 

 Institution, we crossed the Caspian. 



I found throughout our stay in Turkestan that orders had been 

 sent from St. Petersburg to assist the expedition in all ways, and 

 everything was done to facilitate the work. Prince Hilkof's orders 

 obtained for us the continuous use of a car throughout our stay in 

 Turkestan. 



While I became deeplj^ indebted to the general hospitality of all 

 with whom we came in contact, I am under especial obligation to 

 several gentlemen to whose ready assistance the expedition owes 

 much of its success. From their excellencies Count Cassini and 

 the Hon. Joseph H. Choate, Assistant Secretary of State Mr. Her- 

 bert Pierce, and Baron von Richthofen I receiv^ed valuable letters 

 to St. Petersburg. There, from His Excellency Mr. Semenof, vice 

 president of the Imperial Geographical Society, I had letters of the 

 first importance to high authorities in Turkestan, as well as from 

 Generals Stubendorf and Artemonof. Valuable assistance was 

 rendered by Mr. McCormick, our ambassador, and Mr. Ridler, 

 secretary of the embassy. 



Their Excellencies Prince Hilkof , Minister of Ways and Commu- 

 nications ; Mr. Plehve, Minister of the Interior, and Mr. Yermolof, 

 Minister of Agriculture, gave me circular letters to all the employes 

 of their departments ; while from the office of the Minister of War, 

 who has control of Turkestan, orders were telegraphed to extend 

 any desired aid to the members of the expedition. My plans were 

 also cordially furthered by the Imperial Academy of Sciences at St. 

 Petersburg, which passed a resolution asking the Minister of the 

 Interior to facilitate our journey ; by Mr. Karpinsk}^ then director 

 of the Imperial Geological Survey ; Professor Schmidt, and Mr. Bog- 



