PREPARATIONS FOR TRAVEL. 351 



tiaveller we are not prepared to say. Their jealousy of chapter 

 the schemes of conquest entertained by some of the Euro- XXVIIL 

 pean powers, were not unlikely to stimulate them even 

 to such an excess of care, yet it is hardly conceivable that 

 Humboldt's desiie was pressed with any urgency upon 

 them, or it would certainly have met with a more credit- 

 able reception, had circumstances permitted, of its fulfil- 

 ment. The state of the political world, however, was by political im. 

 no means favourable to travel or research by a European, P'^'i'menta. 

 in the regions surrounding the Himalaya range, during 

 the earlier years of the present century. An intelligent 

 writer has remarked in referring to the same suliject : — 

 "At two different periods of his life Baron Humboldt 

 cherished the hope of penetrating into the interior of 

 Asia. During the reign of the Emperor Alexander, and 

 under the ministry of Count RomanzofF, he was invited 

 to accompany the embassy which was about to be sent Russian 

 to Thibet by the route of Kachghar and Yarkand ; but ["^^g"'"" " 

 the war whicli burst out in 1812, prevented the execu- 

 tion of this vast enterprise. Notwithstanding this dis- 

 appointment, our author devoted several years to the 

 study of the Persian language, in the expectation of 

 being able to travel into India by Teheran or Herat, and 

 he examined all the accessible documents which throw 

 any light upon the orography and climatology of the 

 whole of Asia. These labours and researches, though at 

 first only of a preparatory character, were afterwards 

 greatly extended, when, on the invitation of the Em- 

 peror of Russia in 1829, he performed his celebrated 

 journey to the Ural mountains, the Altaian range, and 

 the Caspian Sea." 



It is this journey that we now propose to give the Asiatic 

 reader some account of. The invitation of the Emperor Jowroey 

 of Russia was chiefly directed to a mineralogical tour to the 

 North of Asia and the Caspian Sea. But such an object 

 promised also ample opportunities for gratifying the desire 

 Humboldt had long entertained of visiting the East, and 

 exploring its whole physical character. Accompanied by 



