The homeland of this extraordinary person is the village of Rozhdestvenskoye, located in the forest spaces near the town of Borovichi. This settlement was a temporary settlement of workers during the construction of the Moscow-St. Petersburg railway. In the history of its creation, the name of the engineer-captain Nikolai Miklukha, a dark-haired and thin man with glasses, remained. The father of the future traveler worked on the Novgorodian sections of the route, which were considered the most difficult. He performed the work brilliantly, far ahead of his colleagues in pace. To a large extent, this was facilitated by Miklouha's democracy and humanism in relations with "working" people. Subsequently, Nikolai Ilyich was appointed the first head of the country's main Nikolaev (Moscow) railway station in St. Petersburg, but five years later he was fired from this position. The occasion was 150 rubles sent to the disgraced poet Taras Shevchenko.
Miklouho-Maclay with Papuan Akhmat. Malacca, 1874 or 1875
Miklouha's second son, Nikolai, was born on July 17, 1846. From childhood, the boy was accustomed to need. When his father died, who had contracted consumption while laying a highway through the swamps of the Novgorod region, Nikolai was in his eleventh year. The financial situation of the family (mother of Ekaterina Semyonovna Becker and five children) was extremely difficult. Need pursued the young man and in the years of adolescence, being a student of Mikloukh, he always independently repaired his wretched outfits.
On August 16, 1859, Nikolai, along with his brother Sergei, was enrolled in the gymnasium, but in June 1863 he was expelled from it for political reasons. Leaving the gymnasium, the young man wanted to enter the Academy of Arts, but his mother dissuaded him. At the end of September 1863, as an auditor, he ended up at the Physics and Mathematics Department of St. Petersburg University. But Nikolai did not stay here either - already in February 1864, for violating university rules, he was forbidden to attend this educational institution.
Nikolai Nikolaevich's wanderings around the globe began in 1864, when Miklukha decided to move to Europe. There he first studied in Germany at the University of Heidelberg, then moved to Leipzig, and then to Jena. He "probed" many sciences. Among the subjects he studied were physics, chemistry, geology, philosophy, civil and criminal law, forestry, physical geography, theory of national economy, comparative statistics, history of Greek philosophy, the doctrine of tendons and bones …
At the end of 1865, a poor Russian student in patched but invariably clean clothes caught the eye of the renowned naturalist Ernst Haeckel. The young man liked this convinced materialist and ardent supporter of Darwin's theory. In 1866, Haeckel, tired of office work, took twenty-year-old Miklouha on a major scientific journey. At the end of October 1866, Nikolai departed by train for Bordeaux, and from there sailed to Lisbon. On November 15, the participants of the trip went to Madeira, and then to the Canary Islands. In March 1867, returning to Europe, the travelers visited Morocco. Here Nikolai Nikolaevich, together with a guide-translator, visited Marrakesh, where he got acquainted with the life and life of the Berbers. Then the travelers went to Andalusia, then to Madrid and through the capital of France in early May 1867 returned to Jena.
In 1867-1868 Nikolai Nikolayevich visited the largest zoological museums in Europe. And in 1868, the Jena Journal of Natural Science and Medicine published the first article by the scientist on the rudiments of the Selachia swim bladder. It is curious that the work was signed "Miklouho-Maclay". Since that time, this surname has been firmly entrenched in the Russian traveler.
In 1868, Nikolai Nikolayevich graduated from the medical faculty of Jena University, but he did not intend to become a practicing doctor at all and continued to assist Haeckel. In subsequent years, he wrote a number of articles in which he outlined his own views on the mechanisms of evolution. In the fall of 1968, he arrived in Messina with Dr. Anton Dorn to study sea sponges and crustaceans. In January 1869, they also made an ascent to Etna, not reaching only three hundred meters to the crater.
After studying the fauna of the Mediterranean Sea, the young scientist wanted to get better acquainted with the animals of the Red Sea, as well as to find a connection between the fauna of the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea. In the spring of 1869, when the surface of the Bitter Lakes in Africa was covered with ripples from the first waters flowing along the bed of the new Suez Canal, Nikolai Nikolaevich appeared on the streets of Suez. Dressed in the attire of an Arab, he visited Jeddah, Massawa and Suakin. Working conditions turned out to be difficult - even at night the heat did not fall below +35 degrees Celsius, the scientist most often did not have housing, he was tormented by attacks of previously caught malaria, and from the sand from the desert he developed severe conjunctivitis. Nevertheless, Miklouho-Maclay managed to collect an interesting collection of flint, calcareous and horny sponges, now kept in the Zoological Museum of the Russian Academy of Sciences. In the summer of 1869, the scientist left Alexandria on the Elbrus steamer for Russia.
Nikolai Nikolaevich's journey to the Red Sea played a huge role in his fate. It was here that the specific features of his activity first appeared - the urge to work alone and the preference for stationary research methods. From now on, the twenty-three-year-old zoologist firmly knew his goal - to visit peoples and countries where no white man had yet set foot. These countries were located in the Pacific Ocean …
At the end of 1869, the famous Russian academician Karl Maksimovich Baer was informed that a certain Miklouho-Maclay wanted to meet with him. The young man, who appeared before the old scientist, was dressed in a patched shabby coat and carried a letter of introduction from Ernst Haeckel. Baer, who was fond of the study of primitive tribes and was a fierce defender of the equality of races, warmly greeted the young zoologist and at first entrusted him to study the collections of sea sponges brought from the North Pacific by Russian expeditions. This work captured Maclay. He managed to find out that all the available sponges of the Okhotsk and Bering Seas belong to the same species, adapted to local conditions.
All this time, Nikolai Nikolaevich was convinced of the need to organize an expedition to explore the Pacific Ocean. For hours he sat in the waiting room of Fyodor Litke, who is the vice-chairman of the Russian Geographical Society, hoping to see the wayward and formidable admiral. At first, Fyodor Petrovich did not want to hear about the amazing demands of Maclay, who sent a note to the Council of the Society with a request to send him to the Pacific Ocean. A prominent figure in the geographic society, a remarkable Russian geographer Pyotr Semyonov, came to the rescue, who managed to bring the young traveler and the admiral face to face. At this meeting, the always shy and modest Maclay suddenly showed himself to be a subtle diplomat. He very skillfully started a conversation with Litke about the admiral's past Pacific and round-the-world campaigns. In the end, the stern sea eagle, moved by memories, made a promise to plead for Nikolai Nikolaevich. Fyodor Petrovich managed to get permission for Maclay to travel aboard one of the domestic ships. Also, the traveler was given 1,350 rubles from the funds of the Geographical Society. The young scientist, burdened with poverty and debt, sighed with relief.
The corvette of the military fleet "Vityaz" sailed from Kronstadt in October 1870. Nikolai Nikolayevich agreed with the commander of the ship about the place and time of the meeting, and he went to Europe. In Berlin, Maclay met with the famous ethnographer Adolph Bastian, who showed the guest recently obtained copies of the famous "talking tables" from Easter. In Amsterdam, the traveler was received by the Dutch minister of colonies, who ordered that Nikolai Nikolaevich be given the latest editions of maps of the Pacific Ocean. British sailors in Plymouth presented a Russian scientist with an instrument for measuring ocean depths. In London, Maclay also spoke with the distinguished traveler and biologist Thomas Huxley, who once studied New Guinea.
In the end, Nikolai Nikolaevich ascended the deck of the Vityaz. During a long voyage, he managed to make one important discovery in a field seemingly far from his activities - oceanography. Patiently lowering the thermometer into the depths of the ocean, Miklouho-Maclay made sure that the deep waters are in constant motion and have different temperatures. This indicated that the ocean is exchanging equatorial and polar waters. The previously prevailing theory asserted that the lower layers of water in the ocean have a constant temperature.
Having stocked up food and fresh water in Rio de Janeiro, the Vityaz set off on a difficult voyage around Cape Horn. A few weeks later, Polynesia opened up to travelers. Nikolai Nikolaevich kept his way to the shores of New Guinea, the second largest island on Earth. There lived a primitive man and there a Russian scientist wanted to find a clue to the origin of the human race.
On September 7, 1871, the corvette drifted in the Astrolabe Bay, discovered by the Frenchman Dumont-Durville. No white man had ever landed on these shores of New Guinea. Miklouho-Maclay spent the first day of his stay on the shore of getting to know the local inhabitants - the Papuans. The Russian scientist generously endowed them with various trinkets. Towards evening he returned to the "Vityaz", and the officers of the ship sighed with relief - the "savages" had not yet eaten the Russian scientist.
The next time Maclay went ashore again, the natives, without much fear, came out to meet him. This is how the first rapprochement of Nikolai Nikolaevich with the terrible "cannibals" took place. Soon, near the sea, work began to boil - ship carpenters and sailors were building housing for Maclay. At the same time, officers from the "Vityaz" carried out a topographic survey. Coral Bay in the vast Astrolabe Bay was named Port Constantine, the capes were named after surveyors, and the nearest island began to bear a proud name - Vityaz. On September 27, 1871, the Russian flag was raised over the roof of the built hut, and a solemn and at the same time sad moment of parting came - Nikolai Nikolaevich was left alone on the shores of New Guinea.
When the Russian scientist first decided to visit the village of the natives, he thought for a long time whether to take the revolver with him. In the end, he left the weapon at home, taking only a notebook and gifts. The inhabitants of the island did not welcome the white man very friendly. A dozen Papuan warriors hung around the scientist, hung with braided bracelets, with tortoiseshell earrings in their ears. Arrows flew over Maclay's ear, spears twitched in front of his face. Then Nikolai Nikolaevich sat down on the ground, took off his shoes and … went to bed. It's hard to say what was going on in his soul. However, he forced himself to sleep. When, waking up, the scientist raised his head, he saw with triumph that the natives were sitting peacefully around him. The Papuans watched in amazement as the white man unhurriedly tied the laces of his shoes and went back to his hut. So Nikolai Nikolaevich "spoke" himself from an arrow, a spear and a knife made of cassowary bone. Thus he learned to despise death.
Life on the island was measured. The hermit scientist got up at dawn, washed himself with spring water, and then drank tea. The working day began with entries in the diary, observations of the tidal wave, measurement of air and water temperatures. At noon Maclay had breakfast, and then went to the forest or to the seashore to collect collections. In the evening, the Papuans came to help the scientist in learning a language he did not know. Maclay sacredly respected native customs, and the number of his friends among the Papuans grew rapidly. They often invited the scientist to their place. He treated the sick, witnessed the funeral and birth of the Papuans, and sat as an honored guest at banquets. Increasingly, Nikolai Nikolaevich heard the words "Karaan-tamo" (man from the moon) and "Tamo-rus" (Russian man), as the natives called him among themselves.
For more than a year Miklouho-Maclay lived in his house on the ocean shore and managed to do a lot during this time. In the land of New Guinea, he planted seeds of useful plants and managed to breed corn, beans and pumpkins. Fruit trees have also taken root near his hut. Infected by the example of a Russian explorer, many natives came for seeds. The scientist compiled a dictionary of Papuan dialects and accumulated invaluable information about the crafts and art of local residents. In his diary, he wrote: "I am ready to live on this shore for many years." By right as a discoverer, Maclay eagerly explored the territory of New Guinea. He climbed mountains, discovered unknown rivers, swam along azure bays. His scientific collections grew every day. Nikolai Nikolaevich discovered valuable oil and fruit plants, as well as a new variety of sugar banana. His notebooks were full of notes, notes and marvelous drawings, among which portraits of Maclay's dark-skinned friends predominated. His hut became a real scientific institute. Diseases, snakes crawling on the bed and on the desk, tremors shaking the hut - nothing could interfere with Nikolai Nikolaevich in his great work.
Miklouho-Maclay was in no small measure interested in questions of anthropology. In those years, there was a real war in this science. Many scholars, supporting planters and slave owners, argued that Australians and Negroes are not equal to the white man. Anthropology of those years divided human skulls in shape into short and long. "Long-headed" were considered representatives of the dominant or superior race, compared to "short-headed". The most ardent defender of such a learned obscurantism was Germany, which was already looking for inferior peoples and started talking about the superiority of the long-headed blond German race. Russian science, truly advanced and pure, could not remain aloof from the unfolding struggle. She contrasted her observations and conclusions to the malicious revelations of the enemies of the "colored" peoples. Miklouho-Maclay, being a representative of Russian anthropological science, in his research on human nature always tried to approach representatives of any nation or tribe without any bias. About three and a half thousand Papuans lived in the surrounding mountains around Astrolabe Bay. Maclay's measurements of their skulls showed that there are both "short-headed" and "long-headed" people among the inhabitants of this part of the island.
Travel map of Miklouho-Maclay
In December 1872 the ship "Izumrud" arrived for Nikolai Nikolaevich. The sailors gave the Russian scientist military honors, having greeted him with a loud three-time "hurray". The sailors and officers were amazed when the bearded hermit informed them that he would still think about returning to his homeland. The last night "Karaan-tamo" spent in the circle of natives. When "Emerald" together with Nikolai Nikolaevich sailed from the island, barums - long Papuan drums - sounded all over the Maclay Coast.
After a long voyage, the Emerald stopped in the harbor of Manila, the capital of the Philippines. The Russian scientist has heard a lot about the various wonders of these lands. On March 22, 1873, after disappearing from the supervision of the Emerald crew and finding a knowledgeable guide in the port, he set off across Manila Bay to the Limai Mountains. There, in a deep forest, he met those whom he had long wanted to see - wandering black Negritos. In comparison with them, Nikolai Nikolaevich seemed like a giant, their height did not exceed 144 centimeters. Therefore, they were nicknamed "Negritos", which means "little negroes" in Spanish. In fact, not a single anthropologist of that time knew to which group of peoples they were assigned. Studying the representatives of this tribe, Maclay made another major discovery. He established that the Negritos have nothing to do with the Negroes, but are a separate tribe of Papuan origin.
The traveler left the Emerald in Hong Kong, where, having transferred to a merchant ship, he went to Java. The first glory awaited him in the Javanese capital. Colonial newspapers wrote about Maclay, and James Loudon himself, the Governor-General of the Netherlands India, invited a Russian explorer to his residence near the mountain town of Bogor. The hospitable Loudon did everything so that Nikolai Nikolaevich could work and rest. The residence of the Javanese governor was located in the center of the Botanical Garden, and the Russian scientist spent seven months under the shade of the rarest palms and huge orchids. At the same time, Russian newspapers first "started talking" about Maclay. In the rich local library, the traveler saw the numbers of "St. Petersburg Vedomosti", "Kronstadt Bulletin", "Voice" with notes about him. However, Maclay did not like fame, preferring to devote all the time to scientific pursuits. Having prepared a number of articles about the first trip to the Papuans, the brave traveler began to prepare for a trip to the coast of Papua Koviai, located in the west of New Guinea. These Europeans were afraid to visit these places, and the Malays argued that the inhabitants of this coast were terrible robbers and cannibals. However, Nikolai Nikolaevich was not afraid of such rumors and left Bogor at the end of 1873. In a large sea boat with a crew of sixteen, he sailed from the Moluccas and successfully reached the coast of Papua Coviai. Here Maclay discovered the straits of Sophia and Helena, made important adjustments to the old maps of the coast, and without fear moved into the interior of the island. In the waters of local lakes, Maclay collected unique collections of shells and found a new type of sponges. He also found outcrops of coal and discovered a new cape, named Laudon.
After returning from this campaign in June 1874, the researcher fell seriously ill. Fever, neuralgia, erysipelas of the face chained him to the hospital bed in Amboina for a long time. Here Nikolai Nikolayevich heard stories about the mysterious tribes of "Oran-utans" (in Malay "people of the forest") living inside the Malacca Peninsula. No scientist had ever seen a live oran before. Having said goodbye to Loudon, from whom Maclay was recovering from an illness, the traveler went in search of wild orans. For fifty days his squad roamed the wilds of Johor. Often, travelers walked waist-deep in water or sailed in boats through flooded forests. Often they came across the tracks of tigers, rivers swarmed with crocodiles, huge snakes crossed the road. The scientist met the first Oran-utans in December 1874 in the forests in the upper reaches of the Palon River. They were dark-skinned, short, well-built and, as Maclay noted, not strong in stature. In the Oran-utans of Johor, Nikolai Nikolaevich recognized the remnants of the primitive Melanesian tribes that once inhabited the whole of Malacca. He managed to make friends with them and even live in their dwellings, in addition, the researcher collected samples of poisons from the teeth of snakes and vegetable juices, with which the orans smeared their arrows.
In March 1875, he embarked on a new campaign into the interior of Malacca. Reaching the coastal city of Pekan, the scientist headed to the rainforests of the Kelantan principality. A creaky carriage, a boat and a raft, and most often its own legs, carried the traveler to the land of the “forest people”. He walked about forty kilometers a day. In the mountain gorges between the principalities of Pahang, Terengganu and Kelantan, Nikolai Nikolaevich found the Melanesian tribes of Malacca - the Oran-Sakai and Oran-Semangs. Stunted shy black people lived in the trees. All their property consisted of knives and loincloths. They roamed the wild forests and obtained camphor, which they exchanged with the Malays for cloth and knives. The Russian scientist established that five pure Melanesian tribes live in the depths of the peninsula, noted their habitats, studied their way of life, appearance, language and beliefs. Maclay spent one hundred seventy-seven days in Malacca. Having said goodbye to the "people of the forest", he returned to Bogor to Laudon.
The year ended in 1875. Miklouho-Maclay had no idea how his popularity had grown. The most eminent researchers sought to meet with him, the pages of the "Picturesque Review", "Niva", "Illustrated Week" and many other domestic publications were decorated with portraits of Nikolai Nikolaevich. Domestic cartographers mapped Mount Miklukho-Maclay on the map of New Guinea. But none of them knew that the famous traveler had been wandering homeless for many years and borrowing money in order to make his distant and dangerous campaigns.
Very soon the walls of the palace in Botor became cramped for the tireless traveler. Thanking James Loudon for everything, Nikolai Nikolaevich sailed from the Javanese port city of Cheribon on the schooner "Sea Bird" and in June 1876 arrived on the Maclay Coast. All his old acquaintances were alive. The return of Tamo-Rus became a holiday for the Papuan people. Maclay's old hut was eaten by white ants, and the natives vied with each other to invite Nikolai Nikolaevich to settle with them. The traveler chose a village called Bongu. In its vicinity, ship carpenters, with the help of the Papuans, built the scientist a new dwelling, this time a real house made of solid timber.
During the second visit to the Maclay Coast, the scientist finally became close to the local people. He perfectly learned the customs of the Papuans and their language, the structure of the community and family. His old dream came true - he studied the origin of human society, observed a man in a primitive state, with all his sorrows and joys. Maclay made sure of the high morality of the natives, their peacefulness, love for family and children. And as an anthropologist, he became convinced that the shape of the skull is not a decisive sign of race.
At the end of 1877, an English schooner accidentally sailed into Astrolabe Bay. On it, Nikolai Nikolayevich decided to go to Singapore to put his collections in order and write articles about the discoveries made. He also had thoughts about the establishment in Oceania of special stations for the international protection of black tribes. However, in Singapore, he fell ill again. The doctors who examined him literally ordered the scientist to go under the healing rays of the Australian sun. Maclay did not want to die, he had not done too much in life yet. In July 1878, a Russian zoologist appeared in Sydney, staying first with the Russian vice-consul, and then with the head of the Australian Museum, William McLay. Here he learned from Javanese and Singaporean merchants that his debts exceeded the sum of ten thousand Russian rubles. As mortgages, Maclay had to leave them his priceless collections. Despite his fame, all the letters of Nikolai Nikolaevich with requests for help sent to the Geographical Society remained unanswered. The researcher's literary earnings were also negligible.
Soon the impoverished scientist moved to live in a small room at the Australian Museum. There he, using new methods, investigated Australian animals. In his spare time Miklouho-Maclay preferred to read the works of Ivan Turgenev. He subscribed to the books of his favorite writer from Russia. On the shore of the local Watson Bay, the tireless explorer decided to organize the Marine Zoological Station. He disturbed the peace of the dignitaries and ministers until he knocked out a piece of land for the station, drew the drawings of the buildings himself and supervised the construction. Eventually, the Marine Zoological Station - the pride of the Australian scientist - was opened. After that, the eternal wanderer of Oceania began to gather for a new expedition. This time William McLay gave him the money.
Early in the morning of March 29, 1879, the schooner Sadi F. Keller left the port of Jackson. In 1879-1880, Maclay visited New Caledonia, the Admiralty and Lifa Islands, the Loub and Ninigo Archipelago, the Louisiada Archipelago, the Solomon Islands, the Torres Strait Islands, the southern coast of New Guinea and the eastern coast of Australia. The traveler spent two hundred and forty days on the shores of unexplored islands and one hundred and sixty in sailing on the sea. The scientific discoveries made by him on this expedition were enormous. For the first time Maclay contemplated cases of cannibalism with his own eyes, but this did not frighten him - he calmly wandered around the cannibal settlements, making drawings, taking anthropometric measurements and compiling dictionaries of local languages. At the end of the trip, he became very ill. The scientist's attacks of neuralgia lasted for days. Dengue also returned to him - a painful fever, from which Maclay's knuckles swelled. Disease so exhausted him that in 1880 the researcher weighed only 42 kilograms. On Thursday Island, the traveler could no longer move independently. However, strangers helped him, Miklouho-Maclay was taken to the house of an English official, where, despite pessimistic forecasts, he managed to recover.
Miklouho-Maclay in Queensland in 1880. Staged photography. Attributes of "exotic" attract attention: camping equipment, native spear and eucalyptus branches in the background
May 1880 Nikolai Nikolaevich met in Brisbane - the capital of Queensland. Here, from newspaper clippings, he learned the pleasant news that St. Petersburg newspapers published an article by the famous Italian botanist Odoardo Beccari calling for help to Miklouho-Maclay. Moreover, the money collected by subscription had already been transferred to his account in Sydney, which was enough to pay merchants and bankers all debts and snatch the treasures of science from their hands. For a while, the scientist returned to studying the brains of animals that inhabit Australia. Along the way, he was engaged in paleontology, collected information about the abductions and slavery of the inhabitants of the Pacific Islands, participated in the organization of the Australian Biological Society.
In 1882 Maclay became homesick. His dream of returning to Russia came true when Rear Admiral Aslanbegov's squadron arrived in Melbourne. On October 1, 1882, the world famous traveler and scientist spoke in St. Petersburg at a meeting of the Geographical Society. In a quiet, calm voice, without any pretense, he spoke about his activities in Oceania. With bated breath, the entire congregation listened to him. Unfortunately, despite the desire of the leaders of the Geographical Society, this organization had neither the ability nor the means to support further research by Nikolai Nikolaevich. There were also many fools and envious people among scientists. Whispering behind him, they sarcastically that Maclay (who knows, by the way, seventeen different languages and dialects) had not done anything outstanding. More than once, during the scientist's reports, notes came to him with questions about what a person's flesh tasted like. One inquisitive person asked Nikolai Nikolaevich if savages could cry. Maclay bitterly answered him: “They know how, but black people rarely laugh…”.
But none of the rancor of the envious and reactionaries could darken the glory of the great Russian scientist. Newspapers and magazines around the world wrote about his works - from Saratov to Paris, from St. Petersburg to Brisbane. The famous artist Konstantin Makovsky painted a wonderful portrait of "Tamo-Rus", and the metropolitan society of lovers of ethnography, anthropology and natural science awarded him a gold medal. Maclay left Russia in December 1882. Having visited his acquaintances in Europe, he arrived in tropical Batavia along the old road Port Said - Red Sea - Indian Ocean. There he, having met the Russian corvette "Skobelev", persuaded his captain to go to the Maclay Coast on the way to Vladivostok. In mid-March 1883, Nikolai Nikolaevich arrived at the familiar shores. This time he brought with him pumpkin seeds, saplings of citrus and coffee trees, and mangoes. "Tamo-Rus" delivered Malay knives, axes and mirrors to its friends. A whole herd of domestic animals purchased by Maclay - cows and goats - was also transported to the shore from the ship.
In the summer of 1883, the Russian traveler returned to Sydney, settling in a house at the Naval Station. In February 1884 Nikolai Nikolaevich got married. His wife was a young widow Margarita Robertson, daughter of the former Prime Minister of New South Wales. In the same year, the ominous German banner began to rise over Oceania and Africa. German adventurers raged in East Africa, and merchants from Hamburg pushed the government to capture Togo and Cameroon, eagerly studying maps of the Slave Coast, rich in oil palm and rubber. Miklouho-Maclay closely followed the events. At that time, he still believed in the nobility of the powerful and even wrote a letter to Bismarck in which he said that "a white man should take upon himself the protection of the rights of dark-skinned natives from the Pacific Islands." In response to this, at the end of 1884, German colonists raised their flag over the Maclay Coast.
In 1885, Nikolai Nikolaevich returned to Russia again. After much pain and trouble, an exhibition of his collections was opened. Its success could only be compared with the success that the exhibition of another great Russian traveler, Nikolai Przhevalsky, had a year later. However, the Russian Geographical Society still delayed the publication of his works, and the emperor's promises to publish the traveler's books at the sovereign's funds remained on paper. In October 1886, a special committee, created by order of Alexander III, refused to support Nikolai Nikolayevich at all.
In 1886 Maclay went to Sydney again. He went there for the last time, with the aim of picking up his family, collections and materials. In Sydney, the traveler had to go through a new shock. News came from the Maclay Coast - the ruler of German New Guinea evicted the Papuans from the coastal villages, which he then leveled to the ground. The Germans reported this openly in their colonial heralds. Returning to St. Petersburg, Miklouho-Maclay finally fell ill. He already had difficulty holding a pencil, preferring to dictate his autobiography.
Once a newspaper article came across Maclay's eyes. It reported that Germany had finally annexed the island of New Guinea to its empire. The comedy of the "protectorate" is over. After reading the article, "Tamo-Rus" demanded to bring a pen. He only wrote a couple of lines. It was a message to the German Chancellor, an angry cry from a brave and noble heart: "The Papuans of the Maclay Coast are protesting against their annexation to Germany …"
Soon after that, Nikolai Nikolaevich made his last trip - to the Willie clinic, which belongs to the Military Medical Academy. Sensing the imminent end, he bequeathed all his collections, papers and even his own skull to his native country. Nikolai Nikolaevich spent six weeks in terrible suffering. Neuralgia, fever, dropsy - there is no living space left on it. Miklouho-Maclay's heart beat quieter and quieter. He died at 9 o'clock on April 2, 1888. At the Volkovskoye cemetery, on the inconspicuous grave of the great son of the Russian land, a simple wooden cross with a short inscription was erected. Professor Vasily Modestov in his eulogy said that the fatherland buried the man who glorified Russian courage and Russian science in the most distant corners of the immense world, and that this man was one of the most outstanding people ever born on our ancient land.
Monument to Maclay in New Guinea
