PREFACE.

WHEN the journey narrated in the following pages was undertaken, it was not with the intention of publishing either a book of Travels or any other work. My sole object was to sketch the scenery of Siberia, scarcely at all known to Europeans. While thus employed, I passed out of the Emperor of Russia's Asiatic dominions, having been provided with an especial passport by command of his imperial majesty, Nicholas the First, which enabled me to cross the frontier, as well as to re-enter the empire at any other points to which my rambles might lead me.

I have brought back faithful representations of the scenery, without taking any artistic liberties, preferring Nature in her own attractions to snatching a grace within the reach of Art.

Mine has been a tolerably wide field, extending from Kokhan on the west to the eastern end of the Baikal, and as far south as the Chinese town of Tchin-si, including that immense chain Syanshan, never before seen by any European, as well as a large portion of the western part of the Gobi, over which Genghis Khan marched his wild hordes toward the west-scenes on which no pencil has previously been employed-comprising a distance traversed of about 32,000 versts in carriages, 7100 in boats, and 20,300 on horseback-in all, 59,400 versts (about 39,500 miles) in the course of seven years. Neither the old Venetian nor the Jesuit priests could have visited these regions, their travels having been far to the south; nor am I aware that they brought back any pictorial representations of the scenes through which they wandered. Even the recent travelers Huc and Gaby, who visited

"the land of grass" (the plains to the south of the great Desert of Gobi), did not penetrate into the country of the Kalkas, and the illustrations to their works were evidently fabricated in Paris.

Mine is a simple narrative of facts, taken from journals kept with scrupulous care during the whole journey, often under the influence of great fatigue, and amid the pressure of numerous difficulties. I suffered much both from hunger and thirst, have run many risks, and on several occasions have been placed in most critical situations with the tribes of Central Asia, more particularly when among the convicts escaped from the Chinese penal settlements-desperate characters who hold the lives of men cheap. I have several times looked upon what appeared inevitable death, and have had a fair allowance of hair-breadth escapes when riding and sketching on the brinks of precipices with a perpendicular depth of 1500 feet below me.

With these accompaniments, I traversed much of the hitherto unexplored regions of Central Asia, and produced 560 sketches of the scenery, executed with the moist colors made by Winsor and Newton, invaluable to an artist employed under such circumstances. I have used them on the sandy plains of Central Asia in a temperature of 50° Réaumur (144° Fahrenheit), and in Siberia have had them frozen as solid as a mass of iron when the temperature was 43° Réaumur of frost, 11° below the point where the mercury became solid, when I could make it into balls, in my bullet-moulds. Some of my largest works have been painted with colors that have stood these severe tests, and for depth and purity of tone have not been surpassed by those I have had fresh from the manufactory. With cake colors all my efforts would have been useless.

I am deeply indebted to the late Emperor of Russia, for without his passport I should have been stopped at every government, and insurmountable difficulties would have been thrown in my way. This slip of paper proved a talisman wherever presented in his dominions, and swept down every obstacle raised to bar my progress. I have also to thank her imperial highness, the Grand

Duchess Helen, for many acts of kindness and condescension. Nor have I forgotten my obligations to the Baroness Rahden and Miss Euler, a worthy descendant of the mathematician. Το Count Nesselrode I offer my thanks for many obliging acts. From Mr. Buchanan, our late minister in Denmark, I received much assistance in procuring the emperor's permission, for which I take this opportunity of recording my gratitude. Prince Gertchikoff, the Governor-General of Western Siberia, rendered me most essential service by forwarding my sketching materials to fardistant Cossack posts, for which I return my acknowledgments. I will not attempt to particularize the mining officers of the Altai, from all of whom I received assistance and attention. My thanks are equally due to the peasants, from many of whom I received a crust of black bread when sorely pressed by hunger-to my Cossack companions, who freely shared my toils and dangers-to the brave Kalmucks, who led me through difficult mountain regions, and suffered both hunger and thirst in my service, with the prospect of certain captivity in case of our being overpowered. To General Mouravieff, the Governor-General of Eastern Siberia, I wish also to express my cordial acknowledgments. He is one of the most faithful servants of his imperial majesty, and has done much, and would do more, for the good of his country, were he permitted. My other friends in Eastern Siberia I remember with the kindest feelings, and sincerely hope that I have not been forgotten by them.