Proceeding eastward from this place, they arrived on the 20th of June at the Asbestos Mountain, which traverses a marshy region covered with moss. The asbestos is found on the summit of the loftiest hill in the whole chain, in a kind of coarse slate. It is brittle, like decayed wood, while in the stone, but upon being exposed to the air becomes soft and pliable as flax, and is easily spun and woven into cloth. Pallas himself, who carefully examined its nature and qualities, as well as the mine, if it may be so termed, from which it is drawn, saw it manufactured into paper. From this place he proceeded to the iron-forges of Sisertskoï, in the neighbourhood of which gold is found in a matrix of quartz and ochre; and, indeed, all the country immediately north of this point abounds in an auriferous ochre, from which much pure metal might be extracted. He then visited various other forges, mines, and quarries, and arrived at Ekaterinburg on the 23d of June.
Our traveller’s life, like the peaceful periods of history complained of by Plutarch, was too uniform to furnish many interesting events to his biographer. He travelled, he examined many things, he wrote; but dangers, difficulties, and all the fierce play of the passions, which render the life of a bold adventurer who relies on his own resources a series of romantic achievements, have no existence in his travels’ history, and both the reader’s patience and mine are, therefore, somewhat irritated. This, no doubt, may appear unphilosophical to many. It may be said, that when we behold the picture of a life, whether individual or national, which flowed along in a calm tide, unruffled by misfortune or vicissitude, our feelings should be lulled into the same tranquil motion, and be productive of a happiness similar to that, the representation of which we contemplate. I have faith in the wisdom of nature, which has ordered things otherwise. The mind, when in a healthy and vigorous state, abhors an uninterrupted calm; and storms, hurricanes, and thunders are not more conducive to the general good of the physical world than vicissitudes, transitions, dangers, escapes, which are the storms and sunshine of life, are conducive to happiness in the individual who undergoes them, and to sympathy and pleasure in those who contemplate his career. For this reason, persons who travel with authority never inspire us with the same respect as those whose movements are spontaneous and independent; nor can such travellers ever penetrate like the latter into the core of manners and national character, since most of those who approach them put on, in deference to their very authority, an artificial, deceptive appearance. In the same manner, a nation which should begin and end in peace would have no history; none, at least, which could interest any one beyond its borders. Human virtues are plants which never strike a deep root unless shaken by misfortune. Virtue consists in the directing of our intellectual and physical energies to a praiseworthy end; but if our energies be naturally feeble, or dwindle and wither away through lack of exercise, our virtue, by a necessary consequence, must become dwarfish and insignificant, and utterly incapable of exciting enthusiastic sympathy in those who behold its meek and timid bearing.
These reflections have been extorted from me by the insipid mode of travelling adopted by Pallas. Nothing can be further from my intention than to recommend or require foolhardiness in a traveller; but it seems not irrational to expect, that when a man undertakes the task of examining a remote country, he should be willing to incur some risk and fatigue in the execution of his plan. Of fatigue Pallas, perhaps, endured his share; but he seems to have shrunk rather too timidly from coming in contact with barbarous nations; and I therefore greatly distrust the completeness of his moral pictures. On the other hand, his descriptions of plants, minerals, and the processes of Russian industry are exceedingly minute, and enjoy, I believe, among scientific men the reputation of being exact; but these, unfortunately, the very nature of biography compels me to reject, or introduce into the narrative but sparingly. Among the curious things observed in the western districts of Siberia was the method of preparing Russia leather, which, though tanned in the ordinary manner, acquired the fine scent which renders it so valuable from the oil extracted from the bark of the birch-tree. In traversing the forests which surround the marble quarries on the banks of the Toura, with Vogoul guides, they were overtaken by the night. Excepting the small spot on which they halted, all around was a marshy swamp encumbered with wood, and affording neither road nor pathway. They therefore considered themselves fortunate in having found a dry resting-place; and the Vogouls, to whom such accidents were familiar, immediately occupied themselves in kindling a fire at once, in order to procure warmth and keep off the bears. Next morning his guides undertook to conduct him, by a short path across the forest, to the banks of the Liala, and accordingly struck off boldly into the wilderness. The sombre pine-trees, intermingling their branches above, rendered the way exceedingly obscure; a bog or a fallen tree every moment intercepted their route; the branches of prickly shrubs tore their hands and faces; and not a step could be taken without carefully observing whether it might not precipitate them into some impassable morass. Not a plant met the eye but the mœringia and the linnea, two plants which our traveller, in general a patient forbearing man, often saluted with Tristram Shandy’s whole chapter of curses, as they were in those northern regions the never-failing forerunners of a swamp or an impervious pine-forest. After much toil they reached an open space, from which the trees had been cleared away by a conflagration, which Pallas attributed to lightning, and his guides to the frolics of the devil, who, they imagined, during some long winter night had kindled a whole forest to light up his gambols. Shortly afterward, his guides, who had probably bestowed too many of their thoughts upon the devil, entirely lost their way, and, after floundering about in bogs and woods for several hours, were compelled to confess their utter ignorance of the way; upon which, at the command of our traveller, they turned back, and regained the point from which he had started. The Vogouls, with whom he performed this unsuccessful journey, are a people of primitive and peculiar manners, living in separate families scattered through the woods, with each its domain and enclosure of several miles, containing elks and other large game. Though surrounded by marshes, they are said to enjoy excellent health. Their lives, however, are not of long duration. Short in stature, and effeminate in form, they in some measure resemble the Kalmucs, but their complexion is fairer. Their women are handsome, and of exceedingly amorous temperament. They profess Christianity, but merely for peace’ sake; for in secret they continue the worship of idols, which are daily invoked with prayer and sacrifice.
About the end of August Pallas arrived at Cheliabinsk, where he was for a considerable time confined to his chamber by an affection of the eyes. Here, therefore, he resolved to remain during the winter; but, in order that no time might be lost, he despatched a number of his attendants in various directions, with orders to collect information. Growing tired of this town about the middle of December, however, he set out for Tobolsk, where he remained but a few days, and then returned by Ekaterinburg to Cheliabinsk, where he continued during the remainder of the winter.
Pallas remained at Cheliabinsk until the 16th of April, 1771, when, having commissioned a number of the young men who accompanied the expedition to examine the more northern portions of Siberia, he departed towards the east. The day before he set out, the long grass on the extensive downs to the north of the city were set on fire; the flames swept rapidly along the plains, and the wind blowing towards the town, there was some danger that this irresistible conflagration, which already embraced the whole extent of the horizon, might reach the place, and consume it to ashes. A timely shower of rain, however, put an end to their apprehensions.
In proceeding towards the Tobol, our traveller was alarmed by a report that the Kirghees were making an incursion into the interjacent territory, and prudently turned out of his way to avoid an encounter with these rude barbarians. At Kaminskaia several of his companions fell sick, some with fever, some with scorbutic rheumatism, while others became a prey to melancholy. His movements, for these reasons, were slow. The weather, meanwhile, was exceedingly severe; the snow falling heavily, accompanied by cold wind. The last days of April were marked by a terrible hurricane, and May was commenced with hard frost; notwithstanding which, neither the young flowers nor the buds suffered any particular injury. On the 2d of May one of his attendants died of scurvy, which had afflicted him for five months, and was accompanied by symptoms no less violent than those which attend the same disorder at sea. This event, which would have cost some men a tear, seems to have given no particular uneasiness to Pallas, who, leaving some of his people to inter the dead, coolly continued his journey.
On reaching the stepp of Ischimi, he found an immense plain watered by extensive lakes, and abounding in aquatic game, among which the most remarkable was a large species of white heron. To study the manners of this bird he remained here a few days. But his mode of procuring game was somewhat different from that of Le Vaillant, who pursued the birds into the woods, observed them in their native haunts, and shot them himself. Pallas despatched a number of subaltern naturalists, who shot the game for him, and furnished him with an account of their manners; and this was what he termed studying natural history.
On arriving at Omsk, he applied to the temporary governor of the town for permission to examine the collection of maps of Siberia, as divided into provinces and districts, which had been made by the late Governor Springer; but the new functionary, “dressed in a little brief authority,” had the ambition to play the politician and statesman, and, notwithstanding that he knew Pallas to be travelling for the government upon a public mission, refused him the favour he demanded without an express order from court. Nay, when he desired to depart, this new great man, with the prudence of an owl, denied him a proper passport, though without this it would be difficult for him to obtain horses on the way. Pallas, however, with the caution of a courtier, rather than with the honest indignation of a man of letters, instead of stigmatizing this gross misconduct as it deserved, merely observes, that he attributed it to the military spirit naturally inimical to the sciences.
Our traveller at length departed from Omsk, and commenced his examination of the productions found on the banks of the Irtish, where, on digging in the sandy downs, the bones of elephants and of many large fishes were discovered. Though it was now drawing near the end of May, he experienced continual storms, sometimes accompanied by black clouds, at others by a clear sky. From the inhabitants, however, he learned that tempests succeed each other almost unceasingly in those regions, where a week of fine weather is seldom or never known. He here learned from the fur-merchants a secret which deserves to be generally known: in order to preserve their furs from the worms, they tied up in each bale several calamus roots, which, they asserted, were an unfailing defence of their merchandise. A few shreds of Russia leather, which preserves books and papers from the moth even in Hindostan, would no doubt have answered the same purpose.
On the 11th of June, while travelling through a country thickly intersected with salt-lakes and birch forests, and peopled by myriads of wild bees, he encountered an enormous wolf, which was chasing a duck upon the heath. This animal, he says, is generally remarkable for its timidity in summer; but on the present occasion seemed disposed, like one of La Fontaine’s wolves; to enter into a debate with the strangers; for, instead of flying, he coolly stood still to look at them, without being in the least disturbed by their shouting. At length, however, despairing of entering into any thing like rational conversation with persons who seemed resolved to monopolize all the privilege of good company for themselves, he turned round upon his heel, and with a disdainful and careless bound, continued his journey.