TRAVELS IN ASIATIC RUSSIA. 387 



more conspicuous from the emperor not having yet received 

 all his ministers. He is, however, rapidly progressing towards 

 recovery. He has loaded me with tokens of affection and 

 esteem. "Your sojourn in Eussia has been the cause of 

 immense progress to my country ; you spread a life-giving 

 influence wherever you go." I have been presented with a 

 sable cloak worth 5,000 roubles, and a vase as beautiful as any 

 in the palace, standing, with pedestal included, seven feet high, 

 worth from 35,000 to 40,000 roubles. 1 I shall not be able to 

 write this morning to Madame Kunth. 2 Do me the favour to 

 write to her, and acquaint her that I have to-day written a 

 letter to the king, mentioning her misfortunes and the worth 

 of her husband, and begging that her case may receive special 

 attention. I wrote by the first opportunity after receiving the 

 news of her loss in a letter from young Kunth of the 23rd of 

 November. What happiness to be with you so soon ! With 

 affectionate regards to all your family, 



'ALEXANDER HUMBOLDT.' 



Early on December 15, Humboldt left St. Petersburg in 

 company with his two travelling companions, Ehrenberg and 

 Eose, at a temperature of 13 below zero, and yet was able to 

 write to Cancrin from Konigsberg in a most cheerful strain on 

 December 24 : ' We have spent an interesting day at Dorpat 

 with Evers, Struve, Ledebuhr, and Engelhardt. It unfortu- 

 nately stands recorded in the theory of probabilities that one 

 cannot travel 18,000 versts without being at least once upset. 

 This doctrine of probabilities has maintained its rights in the 

 spirit of a Nemesis. We were upset with so much force upon 

 a mill-bridge at the foot of a slight hill, near Engelhardtshof, 

 two posts before Eiga, by the whirling round of the carriage 

 upon the smooth surface of the ice, that one side of the carriage 

 was completely smashed. One of the horses fell a distance of 

 eight feet into the water. As may be supposed, the parapet 

 gave way and we lay in a very picturesque position about four 

 inches from the edge of the bridge. Nobody was hurt, and 

 though Ehrenberg and I were in a carriage enclosed by glass, 



1 This magnificent malachite vase is in the royal palace at Berlin. 



2 Kunth died on November 22, 1829. 



c c 2 



