368 ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT. 



48 of latitude, by way of Lake Baikal, in order to carry out the 

 investigations to be made south of this parallel, which would 

 occupy four or five years. 



' Expeditions of this nature would not be very costly, for 

 though the instruments required must necessarily be of the 

 most perfect construction, they are but of small dimensions. 

 It would be well that the scientific men selected for the expe- 

 dition should be Kussians, for they are more hardy and possess 

 much greater powers of endurance, and will be less impatient 

 to return. I do not know a single word of the Eussian lan- 

 guage, but I shall make myself a Eussian, as formerly I 

 made myself a Spaniard. Whatever I undertake, I execute with 

 enthusiasm.' . . . 



After pointing out the advantages that would accrue from 

 such an expedition into the interior of the continent, not only 

 to science, but also to the Eussian Empire, Humboldt con- 

 tinues : 



'You will naturally infer from the hopes I thus indulge 

 that I have made up my mind to accept any proposals that I 

 may have the honour of receiving, provided the plans for the 

 expedition be conceived on a scale sufficiently extensive to 

 be worthy of the monarch by whom half the old world is 

 governed. The apprehension that exists of a war breaking out 

 in the North may perhaps delay the execution of these grand 

 projects ; I cannot but hope that peace may be preserved, but 

 should I be disappointed, it may at least be expected that at 

 the close of a war, Government will be all the more disposed 

 to entertain those projects which, calling for only a small outlay 

 of the public funds, tend to increase the internal prosperity of 

 the country. It will be impossible for me to visit St. Peters- 

 burg before the winter of 1814; but this delay will not prove 

 detrimental to the expedition. More than a year will be 

 required for the preparation of various scientific instruments ; 

 and it will be desirable to have them constructed by the best 

 opticians in Europe Fortin, Breguet, and Lenoir, of Paris ; 

 Troughton, Mudge, and Eamsden & Son, of London ; and 

 Eeichenbach, of Munich. It will take some time to make the 

 necessary arrangements with artists and men of science, and to 

 acquire all the information needed in regard to the southern 



