TRAVELS IN ASIATIC RUSSIA. 383 



yet never accede to the pressing solicitations of the emperor 

 to undertake another expedition through his vast dominions. 1 



While at Miask, in the month of September, the two minino- 

 students previously mentioned Ernst Hofmann, subsequently 

 Lieut.-Greneral, and Von Helmersen, now Lieut.-Greneral and 

 Director of the Imperial Institute of Mines in Russia were 

 appointed as guides to Humboldt and his party during their 

 visit to the Ural district. They remained in Humboldt's service 

 nearly a month. From Miask, Humboldt wrote to the minister 

 on September 15 : 'Yesterday I completed my sixtieth year, 

 and spent my birthday on the Asiatic slopes of the Ural Moun- 

 tains. I have therefore passed through the most important 

 period of my life, and reached a turning-point, which makes 

 me regret that so much still remains unaccomplished before 

 the strength of manhood declines with advancing age. Thirty 

 years ago I was among the forests of the Orinoco and on the 

 heights of the Cordilleras. To you am I indebted for ren- 

 dering this year one of the most important of my restless life, 

 by enabling me to collect so vast an assemblage of facts, in 

 the course of this extensive journey, a journey during which we 

 have travelled more than 9,000 versts since leaving St. Peters- 

 burg.' In the same letter occurs the passage which, from the 

 truth of its prophetic tenor, has become so justly celebrated: 

 'The Ural Mountains are a true El Dorado, and I am confident 

 from the analogy they present to the geological conformation of 

 Brazil an opinion I have maintained for two years that even 

 under your administration diamonds will be discovered in the 

 gold and platinum washings of the Ural Mountains. I gave 

 this assurance to the empress before I left Russia ; and, though 

 neither I nor my friends were able to make the discovery, 

 the object of our journey will be accomplished if the attention 



1 On May 22, 1843, Humboldt wrote as follows to Schumacher : l It has 

 cost me a great effort to dedicate the three volumes of my ' Asie centrale ' 

 to the Emperor of Russia ; it was an unavoidable step, since the expedition 

 was accomplished at his expense. My relationships with the monarch have 

 undergone considerable alteration since 1829, on account of my political 

 missions to Paris. The dedication, about which I consulted Arago, is appro- 

 priate and dignified on my part. The emperor has sent me his portrait ; 

 I should have been better pleased to have received no answer or only a 

 formal acknowledgment.' 



