TRAVELS IN ASIATIC RUSSIA. 381 



the population in the Ural districts, but the kind of authority 

 with which he had been delegated was interpreted in various 

 ways. In general, it sufficed that he was entitled, Actual Privy 

 Counsellor, and, that the Emperor Nicholas had issued orders 

 that he was to be received with the honours befitting a senator 

 and a general. The commandants of the small fortresses in 

 the military district of Orenburg, through which Humboldt 

 travelled, presented themselves in full uniform, and laid 

 before him, according to military custom, a report upon the 

 condition of the troops under their charge. When the travelling 

 cortege, consisting of three equipages, arrived at any garrison 

 town, there was always waiting an expectant crowd of Cossacks, 

 soldiers of the line, Kirghissians, Baschkirians, Tartars and 

 Eussians, besides women and children of all ages. 



' On one occasion, while the horses were being changed at 

 the fortress of Tamalyzkaja, there suddenly came forward from 

 a crowd of this description a Baschkirian, who, making up to 

 Humboldt's carriage, near which I was stationed, with raised 

 voice and lively gesticulations, addressed a speech to the great 

 traveller in Turkish jargon, not one word of which could be 

 understood by any of our party. Upon Humboldt inquiring 

 from me, in the most courteous manner, "What does this 

 gentleman want ? " I summoned an interpreter, and, through 

 him, learnt that the supplicating Baschkirian had, on the 

 previous night, been robbed of his horses by the neigh- 

 bouring Kirghissians ; and, on hearing there was a great per- 

 sonage coming who knew everything, he had presented himself 

 with the urgent request that this distinguished person would 

 tell him who the robbers were and how he was to recover his 

 lost treasures. As the police rushed up at this moment to seize 

 the unsummoned intruder, and prevent any mischief, Herr von 

 Humboldt, who laughed heartily at the occurrence, begged that 

 mercy might be shown to this simple son of the desert.' 



As a smile from Humboldt sufficed to preserve this poor 

 Baschkirian from severe punishment, on another occasion, a 

 word from him was the means of alleviating the condition of a 

 young political prisoner, Witkiewicz, a Pole who, though self- 

 taught, had attained a remarkable degree of intellectual culture. 1 

 1 See ' Briefwechsel Humboldt's rnit Berghaus/ vol. ii. p. 279. 



