TIUVELS IN ASIATIC RUSSIA. 377 



rounded by excitement wherever I go, and it would be impos- 

 sible to be treated with greater distinction or with more 

 generous hospitality. I have dined nearly every day with the 

 Imperial Family in their strictest privacy covers being laid 

 for four and I have spent the evenings with the empress,, 

 with the most delightful freedom from constraint. The heir- 

 apparent has also entertained me to dinner, " in order that he 

 may remember me in time to come." The young prince has 

 been told to ask for my portrait, from the original to be painted 

 by Sacszollo. Czreitszef, the Minister of War, has given me a 

 collection of maps published at the Government press. . . . 

 The carriages are very beautiful, and cost each 1,200 thalers.' 

 A third carriage was provided for the courier and the cook. 1 



On May 20, the travellers left St. Petersburg. During a 

 fortnight's stay at Moscow, Humboldt had the pleasure of again 

 meeting with Loder and his old friend Fischer, ' who is styled 

 his Excellency, drives about in a carriage and four, and is in 

 receipt of a pension of 7,000 francs.'. The consideration 

 showed them by Government was beyond all praise, and the 

 honours and distinctions they received became, at last, almost 

 oppressive. ' We are continually the objects of attention with 

 the police, government officials, Cossacks, and guards of 

 honour. Unfortunately, we are scarcely a moment alone ; we 

 cannot take a step without being led by the arm like an invalid. 

 I should like to see Leopold von Buch in such a position/ 

 Even the receptions given in their honour by the highest 

 officials, and the entertainments they received from men of 

 learning, became ' bien fatigants.' 



The route selected by Humboldt lay through Vladimir and 

 Mourom to Nijnii-Novgorod, and thence down the Volga to 

 Bulgara and Kazan. After a short excursion to the Tartar 

 ruins of Bulgari, the travellers proceeded through Perm to- 

 lekaterinbourg, on the eastern slopes of the Ural, that exten- 



1 With praiseworthy zeal the Russian Government equipped three other 

 scientific expeditions in the same year, 1829 : one to Ararat, under Parrot 

 the younger ; another to Mount Elbrus and the Caucasus, under Kupfter ; 

 while a third, under Ilansteen, Due, and Erman, was despatched for the 

 purpose of determining- the magnetic lines from St. Petersburg to Kam- 

 tschatka. 



