Here, in 1776, he published his “Elenchus Zoophytorum,” the first of his “great works,” to adopt the expression of M. Eyriès, which, for an author of twenty-five, was a remarkable performance. The “Miscellanea Zoologica,” which was published the same year, still further augmented his reputation. This work (I still borrow the language of the French geographer) threw a new light upon the least known classes of the animal kingdom, those which had hitherto been confounded together under the name of worms. These two publications carried far and wide the name of their author, and several governments sought to monopolize his talents. He would probably have given the preference to that of his own country, had he received from it the least encouragement; but, as too often happens, says M. Cuvier, it was at home that he was least respected. He therefore resolved to desert his country, and accepted a place in the Academy of St. Petersburg, which was offered him by Catherine II. Pallas’s private circumstances are nowhere, so far as I have been able to discover, properly explained. I know not, therefore, whether extreme poverty or vulgar cupidity determined him to take this step; but I cannot, without pain, contemplate men of abilities running about the world in search of wealth, ready to snatch at it from any hand, and no less ready, however base may be the donor, to repay the dishonourable obligation by despicable flattery and adulation. For this reason, in spite of the profound veneration with which I regard every thing like genius, which appears to be a spark of the Divine nature fallen from heaven, I cannot help considering Pallas as a learned and ingenious slave, cringing at the foot of power, and willing to perform all things at its bidding.
Catherine, it is well known, was desirous that some of her own barbarians should observe in Siberia the transit of Venus over the sun’s disk in 1769, and not, as in 1763, leave the honour to foreigners. She therefore selected a number of astronomers from the Academy of St. Petersburg, and joined with them several naturalists, whose business it was to examine the nature of the productions and soil in this remote province of the empire. They were, in fact, instructed to make the most exact researches on the nature of the soil; on that of the waters; on the means of cultivating the deserts; on the actual state of agriculture; the diseases which chiefly prevailed among men and beasts; the means of curing or preventing them; the manner of rearing bees, silkworms, and cattle; minerals, and mineral waters; the arts, trades, and other industrious processes of each province; the plants, animals, the interior and the form of mountains; and, in short, on all the objects of natural history. The geography of the country, the manners of its inhabitants, and the traditions and monuments of antiquity were likewise included.
Such was the enterprise to engage in which Pallas was invited into Russia. In the midst of the numerous preparations required for so long and arduous a journey, he found leisure to compose several new works (for he possessed, and was vain of, a great facility in writing), which, in the opinion of naturalists, were full of interesting views; among others he presented to the academy his famous memoir on the bones of large quadrupeds discovered in Siberia, in which he proves that the remains of elephants, rhinoceroses, buffaloes, and many other kinds of animals now peculiar to the south, were found in those northern regions.
The expedition was composed of seven astronomers and geometricians, five naturalists, and several pupils, who were to direct their course in various directions over the immense country which they were about to explore. Pallas left Petersburg on the 21st of June, 1768. The great road to Moscow, which traverses a part of Ingria, affords nothing interesting either to the traveller or the naturalist. Having passed Tosna, they entered a forest of pines and birch-trees, where, owing to the marshy nature of the soil, every spot which had been cleared of wood swarmed with gadflies. He passed through, but made no stay at Novogorod, and then pushed on to Bronitzkoi. The river which passes through this town abounds in salmon-trout, which descend from the lake of Ilman, visible from the neighbouring hill. The road here affords a view of several ancient tombs, which our traveller did not pause to examine.
At a short distance beyond Saisovo, he crossed the Jemlin, in which pearl-muscles are found; and, hurrying along impatiently, arrived at Moscow on the 4th of July. This city, which had so often been visited and described by others, possessed so few attractions for him that he would willingly have quitted it immediately; but his vehicles, shattered by the badness of the roads, paved in some instances with trees, and cracked by the heat of the sun, required reparation; other causes of delay occurred, and he was therefore detained here many days. To amuse himself a little, and blunt the point of his impatience, he made several short excursions in the environs, where he was greatly struck at finding on all sides numerous petrifactions of marine substances. The river Moskwa produces an abundance of marine sponges, with which the Russian women rub their cheeks, instead of paint. Attempts were even then making to raise the genuine rhubarb in the environs of Moscow.
From this city he set out for Vlodimir. But little care was then taken in Russia to provide travellers with good horses, since even the members of this expedition were sometimes scarcely able to proceed on account of the badness of their beasts. Vlodimir, formerly an extensive city, according to the traditions of the country, is picturesquely situated upon several small hills, and surrounded by cherry-orchards, the produce of which is the chief means of subsistence possessed by the inhabitants. At Kassinof Pallas found the descendants of several Tartar princes, who were now engaged in the fur trade, and possessed of considerable riches. They were of the Mohammedan religion, and were at that time rebuilding a fallen mosque, by permission of the government.
At a small village on the banks of the Oka he saw a great number of goitres, whose deformity he supposed to arise from the quality of the water. On the banks of the Piana he found, in a small scattered village, several descendants of the Mordwans, who, having been converted to Christianity, had lost almost all traces of their ancient manners. These, according to Pallas, were at that time the filthiest people in the Russian empire, which was a bold thing to say; but they were good husbandmen, and their women, though ugly, were exceedingly laborious, which our traveller, no doubt, regarded as a superior quality to beauty.
About the middle of September the cold was already considerable, rain and snow were frequent, and the severe frosts commenced. Having passed the Soura, they entered into an immense forest, where he observed wild cabbages on the banks of the river. Here they saw the beehives of the Mordwans, which were left all the winter in the forests with a very slender covering; and, among their flocks, several mules produced between the goat and the sheep. The peasants of these woody districts were principally employed in making tar. On the 22d of September they reached Simbirsk, on the Volga, where they were detained within doors for some days by a tremendous storm. They then issued forth upon their various pursuits; and, among other places, Pallas visited the sulphurous springs which are found near the Sargout. One of those springs was formerly of considerable extent, and furnished large quantities of sulphur, but it had then disappeared. The other formed a little marsh on the left bank of the stream. Even in the depth of winter, the water of the spring never froze, and at all times a thin sulphury vapour hung like a light cloud over its surface.
The season being now too far advanced to allow them to proceed on their journey, they determined to pass the winter at Simbirsk, from whence they departed on the following March towards Siberia. In fact, they were weary of their residence at Simbirsk long before the winter was over; and Pallas, having been given a charming picture of the environs of Samara, removed thither with his companions on sledges. Near this town, in the bed of a small stream which falls into the Sviaga, were found numerous remains of the skeletons of elephants, among which were several tusks very slightly injured by time, from the ivory of which various beautiful articles were wrought. Here our traveller continued during the whole month of April, in which time he examined whatever was remarkable in the environs; and then, on the 2d of May, proceeded towards the south, to Sizran on the Volga.
The heat at this place during almost the whole of May was nearly insupportable; the clouds gathered together, and, extending themselves in a thick canopy over the sky, appeared to promise rain, while the thermometer continued rising from 105 to 110 degrees in the shade; so that, in a place situated in the same latitude as Caernarvon in North Wales, a heat equal to that of Calcutta in July was experienced in the spring. So high a temperature of the atmosphere was probably unusual, as it alarmed the peasantry for their crops; and processions, offering up solemn prayers for rain, were beheld throughout the country.