380 ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT. 



According to the accounts rendered by Menschenin, the party 

 had travelled 14,500 versts, or 9,614 miles, during their 

 twenty-five weeks' absence from St. Petersburg that is to 

 say, from May 20 to November 13, 1829 ; of this distance 690 

 versts were by water, exclusive of a voyage on the Caspian Sea 

 of 100 versts. The number of post stations passed through 

 was 658, and 12,244 post horses had been employed on the 

 journey. The passage of rivers had been effected fifty-three 

 times the Volga had been crossed ten times, the Kama twice, 

 the Irtysch eight times, the Obi twice. Humboldt computed 

 that during the nine months he had been absent from Berlin 

 from April 12 to December 28 he had travelled 11,505 miles. 



As we have only been able to give a slight sketch of the 

 expedition, we shall be obliged to confine our descriptions 

 of the personal adventures of the travellers to a few of the 

 most characteristic incidents. We are indebted for the follow- 

 ing sketch to General Helmersen, a Member of the Academy 

 of St. Petersburg : 



' Humboldt, at this time in his sixtieth year, walked with a 

 tolerably erect gait, his head being a little inclined forward. 

 During the journey and in his travelling carriage, we never saw 

 him in any other costume than in a dark brown or black dress- 

 coat, a white neckerchief, and a round hat. He usually wore a 

 long over-coat of a similarly sombre hue. His gait was slow 

 and measured, cautious but secure. During the excursions ho 

 never rode ; when a carriage could no longer proceed, he would 

 alight and go on foot, climbing high mountains without any 

 show of fatigue, and clambering over fields of rough stones. It 

 was evident from his mode of walking that he had been accus- 

 tomed to bad ground. 



' His meals were always characterised by his well-known 

 moderation ; and even after hours of great fatigue, he would 

 persist in declining the abundant supply of food which the 

 ^Russians, with well-meaning hospitalit} 7 , were accustomed to 

 press upon their guests. His manner of rejecting these kindly 

 meant attentions was invariably marked, whatever the rank of 

 his host, by the gentle courtesy ever distinguishing the true 

 aristocrat. 



'Humboldt's fame had penetrated even among all classes of 



