124 ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT. 



The next letter is dated < Grrafenthal, July 11, 1792.' 



' I am so tired, dear Freiesleben, with going about and de- 

 scending mines and writing reports, that I can scarcely keep 

 up. Yet I must write you a few lines to tell you I am well. I 

 must solace myself in these late hours of the night by the 

 affectionate remembrance of yourself, and alas ! of those happy 

 hours we have spent together. ..." Where have I been ? " 



6 Ask rather where I have not been. My last expedition was to 

 Saalfeld, Kuhnsdorf, &c. I have enjoyed myself immensely, 

 amid this constant bustle. Only think what I did in one 

 day ; I walked to Saalfeld and back, and in the most frightful 

 heat spent from four o'clock in the morning till six o'clock in 

 the evening in visiting the several mines the Pelican, the 

 New Joy, the Unexpected Pleasure, the Iron John, and the 

 Twilight. I am quite foot-sore with so much running about,, 

 but that will soon be better. How many things crowd upon 

 me that I should like to talk over with you ! At present I 

 shall only throw out hints of the subjects about which we 

 shall have to correspond Thus much for to-day. To- 

 morrow I leave for Naila.' 



The Commission to the Franconian Principalities, to which 

 Humboldt refers in the letter to Freiesleben above quoted, was 

 undertaken at the instigation of the minister Von Heinitz, who 

 was anxious to institute some important improvements in the 

 management of the various mines and smelting works in those 

 provinces, as well as in the porcelain manufactories and salt 

 works of Grerabronn. While undergoing a course of mineral 

 waters at Carlsbad, Heinitz resolved, as a preliminary step, to 

 send Humboldt, armed with a commission, to inspect the chief 

 establishments in the principalities, and on his return to meet 

 him at Bayreuth with a full report of their condition. For 

 this purpose he addressed a communication bearing date July 

 23, 1792, to the Government at Berlin, and the minister, 

 Hardenberg, with whom he had often conversed of Humboldt's 

 extensive information and solid acquirements, furnished all 

 necessary official assistance for the prosecution of this tour of 

 inspection. 



at Berlin, and that I have even made experiments in the process of rolling^ 

 the clay.' 





