Maclay is the best friend of the Papuans. Voluntary agent miklouho

The great traveler from St. Petersburg knew how to charm Papuans and Australian beauties

We remember that the aborigines ate Cook. But about Miklouho-Maclay, on the contrary, we know from childhood that he managed to make friends with the natives. This strange Russian traveler with an incomprehensible surname like a tumbleweed traveled through the distant southern islands. He was going to establish a new free state on Papuan territory - Black Russia, and most importantly, he scientifically proved that people of the black and white races are exactly the same in their mental abilities.

“Smena” found the descendants of the famous traveler in St. Petersburg.

Family legend

The family coat of arms is kept in the apartment of Miklouho-Maclay’s relatives.

According to family legend, it is believed that the Mikloukhams were granted nobility by Catherine the Second. This happened during the Russian-Turkish war, says Dmitry Basov, a descendant of Maclay. - For six months, Russian troops could not recapture the Ochakov fortress from the Turks. Finally they decided to attack. And the first, as the legend says, was the Cossack Stepan Miklukha who flew up the wall with a torch in his hand. Therefore, the Miklouho-Maclay family coat of arms depicts a fortress and a man with a torch.

Fell asleep and survived

The Papuans took Miklouho-Maclay for a superman, for a god, says Dmitry Basov. - They called him “the man from the moon.” Often the aborigines killed travelers arriving to them, but Maclay survived. He disarmed the savages with his extraordinary behavior. When the corvette Vityaz approached the coast of New Guinea, the captain suggested that Maclay take weapons and a guard of sailors with him. But the traveler went to the village alone and unarmed. The Papuans began to shoot at him with bows and swing spears. And he unlaced his boots, lay down and fell asleep in the midst of armed enemies. The Papuans realized that he was not afraid of them and therefore it was useless to do anything bad to him.

I have the greatest respect for Maclay. Reading his diaries, you understand how noble a man he was. One day he banned war. Papuans from a neighboring village came to him and told him that they were starting a war with another tribe. Miklouho-Maclay said: “If you fight, I will set the sea on fire.” He gave one Papuan a bowl with kerosene at the bottom, ordered him to scoop up water from the sea, and then set the flammable liquid on fire. The Papuans fell to their knees: “Maclay, we will never fight again.”

He was also incredibly honest and never lied, but that’s very hard! One Papuan asked him: “Maclay, can you die?” By saying yes, he would lose authority, and by saying no, he would be lying. He gave the Papuan a spear in his hands: “Hit me and you will know.” He shouted: “No, Maclay, you cannot die!” and did not take the spear...

Love for Australian Margaret

The traveler had three overseas grandchildren: Robert, Kenneth and Paul. They often came to St. Petersburg. They usually met on the ancestor’s birthday, July 17, in his homeland in the small village of Okulovka in the Novgorod region. Robert even celebrated his golden wedding with his St. Petersburg relatives. He died last summer in Australia.

In the year of the 150th anniversary of his birth, when Maclay was named a citizen of the world, a monument to the great Petersburger was unveiled in Sydney.

Everything in Miklouho-Maclay’s life was unusual. Even the story of his love and marriage to Australian Margaret Robertson. She was the youngest, fifth daughter of the Prime Minister of the Colonies of New South Wales. A beautiful, rich, childless widow. Many of the influential colonial officials asked for her hand. At first, Margaret’s relatives were against the marriage with Maclay, then several months passed while waiting for special permission from the Russian emperor for marriage according to the Protestant rite. “Let him marry at least according to Papuan custom, as long as he doesn’t loom before his eyes,” was the answer that Alexander III eventually gave.

Not knowing the Russian language, with two children, Margaret went with her husband to St. Petersburg and remained next to him while he reported to the Geographical Society on the work done in New Guinea and Australia. They lived together for four years. After Maclay's death, his wife went back to Australia, and the Russian government paid her a pension until 1917.

Margaret-Emma Robertson (Miklouho-Maclay) with her sons Alexander and Vladimir (sitting)

In St. Petersburg, at the Volkov cemetery, several Latin letters were engraved on the grave of Miklouho-Maclay. No one could decipher them until the wife of his Australian grandson Rob, Alice, realized that these were the initial letters of the marriage formula in the church ritual: “Only death can separate us.” They signed letters to each other with these letters.

Black Russia is a country in the Pacific Ocean

Miklouho-Maclay wanted to create a new society on the shores of the Pacific Ocean. In 1871 the Paris Commune fell. It seemed to Maclay that the time had come for a social experiment. More global and more successful. He sent out invitations to everyone who wanted to settle in New Guinea and create a new independent state.

“Why not let everyone who wants to live here? - he wrote. - We will declare our rights to the Maclay coast. We will create a center of tropical agriculture here and build roads.”

In May 1886, an announcement appeared in the Novosti newspaper: a famous traveler was gathering everyone who wanted to settle on the shores of Maclay or on one of the Pacific islands. By June 25, 160 applicants had submitted applications. By September there were already over 2 thousand. Prominent public figures became interested in the project; Leo Tolstoy inquired about Maclay. Someone has already come up with the name of the future colony - Chernorossiya. Maclay had his own plan: members of the commune would work the land together, money would be abolished, the colony would form a community with elected governing bodies - an elder, a council and a general meeting of settlers.

But such plans frightened the Russian emperor. The verdict was rendered: “Miklouho-Maclay should be denied.”

The life of the Papuans was far from ideal, and Nikolai Nikolaevich knew this like no one else, explains Dmitry Basov. - Many tribes of New Guinea had terrible customs, for example. It was considered the norm for them to lure an enemy, attract him with a good attitude, pretend to be kind and hospitable, invite him into their home, kill him, cut off his head and hang him from the ceiling as a trophy. Miklouho-Maclay hoped that the Russian people would not only save the Papuans from ruthless exploitation by Europeans, but would also be able to soften their morals.

Faith in God is faith in people!

Dmitry himself had never been to Indonesia, Papua, or other exotic countries - places of Maclay's travels.

When I was studying at the Oriental Faculty of St. Petersburg University, I packed my bags several times: first to Indonesia, then to Malaysia, but all my trips were cancelled. And I decided that this was not without reason. Probably someday I will visit Indonesia, but for now I need to live in Russia. I traveled a lot around the country, visited many villages, hermitages, and monasteries. Unlike Miklouho-Maclay, I have always been more interested in religion and literature, but not in science.

Dmitry Basov became a writer. He writes under the pseudonym Dmitry Orekhov, and his books are sold not only in Russia, but also in the CIS countries and even in Australia.

For the last two years I have been writing prose, but I started with journalistic books about Orthodox spirituality. How do they come to Orthodoxy? You see, a child believes in the rationality of the world, and the festivity of childhood is connected with this. However, as he grows up, he is faced with the fact that life is unreasonable, cruel, unfair and almost meaningless, since it ends in death. He may find himself surrounded by people who live by wolf laws and who do not recognize any morality. It would seem that nothing prevents him from becoming the same as others, but something says “no”. This “something” can be called the soul, conscience, “religious gene,” “inner feeling.” It seems to me that everyone has a “religious gene”, but for some it does not have time to reveal itself. Miklouho-Maclay was also endowed with this gene. Yes, of course, he was a scientist and believed that humanity needs, first of all, scientific knowledge, but he served his idea of good with full effort as a true believer. It is interesting that physically he was weak, thin, and short. I have never been in good health. During his travels he suffered severely from fever. It was very difficult for him, but he knew how to overcome his illnesses - for the sake of his loved ones, for the sake of the Papuans, for the sake of all humanity.

Olga GORSHKOVA

Contrary to popular misconception, Nikolai Miklouho-Maclay had no foreign roots. The Legend of the Scottish Mercenary Michaele Makalay, who took root in Russia and became the founder of the family, was a family legend.

In fact, the traveler came from the humble Cossack family of Miklukh. As for the second part of the surname, historians have never been able to reliably establish the reason for its appearance. It is only known that in 1868 the scientist signed his first scientific publication in German in this way.

Repeater and troublemaker

The future traveler did poorly at school - partly due to poor health, partly simply because of his reluctance to study. Nikolai Miklouho-Maclay remained in his second year twice and, while still a high school student, was imprisoned in the Peter and Paul Fortress for participating in a student demonstration.

In Soviet times, biographers wrote that Miklouho-Maclay was expelled from both the gymnasium and the university for participating in political activities. In fact, this is not so - he left the gymnasium of his own free will, and could not be expelled from the university, since he was a volunteer student.

Ernst Haeckel (left) and Miklouho-Maclay in the Canary Islands. December 1866. Source: Public Domain

On his first expedition, Miklouho-Maclay studied sea sponges

Nikolai Miklouho-Maclay went on his first scientific expedition in 1866, while studying abroad. German naturalist Ernst Haeckel invited a Russian student to the Canary Islands to study the local fauna. Miklouho-Maclay studied sea sponges and as a result discovered a new species of calcareous sponge, calling it Guancha blanca in honor of the indigenous inhabitants of the islands.

It is interesting that local residents, mistaking the scientists for sorcerers, turned to them with requests for healing and predicting the future.

A Russian scientist landed in New Guinea together with a Swedish sailor

In 1869, Nikolai Miklouho-Maclay presented to the Russian Geographical Society a plan for an expedition to the Pacific Islands, designed to last several years. On September 20, 1871, the Russian ship Vityaz landed a traveler on the northeastern coast of New Guinea. Subsequently, this area received the name Maclay Coast.

Contrary to the erroneous idea, Miklouho-Maclay did not land alone, but accompanied by two servants - a Swedish sailor Olsen and young men from the island of Niue named The battle. With the help of sailors from the Vityaz, a hut was built, which became both housing and a scientific laboratory for Miklouho-Maclay.

Russian ship "Vityaz". Source: Public Domain

Salute turned Miklouho-Maclay into an evil spirit

Nikolai Miklouho-Maclay was at first considered among the Papuans not to be a god, as is commonly believed, but, on the contrary, an evil spirit. The reason for this was an incident on the first day we met. The islanders, seeing the white people, believed that he had returned Rotei- their great ancestor. Many men went in boats to the ship to bring him gifts. They were well received on the ship and were also given gifts. But on the way back to the shore, a cannon shot suddenly rang out - the ship’s crew saluted in honor of their arrival. Out of fear, people jumped out of the boats, threw their gifts and swam to the shore. To those awaiting their return, they declared that it was not Rotei who had arrived, but an evil spirit. Buka.

A Papuan named helped change the situation Tui, who turned out to be bolder than the others and became friends with the researcher. When Miklouho-Maclay managed to cure Tui from a serious wound, the Papuans accepted him as an equal, including him in the local society. Tui remained a mediator and translator in the traveler’s relations with other Papuans.

Miklouho-Maclay with Papuan Akhmat. Malacca, 1874 or 1875. Source: Public Domain

Miklouho-Maclay was preparing a Russian protectorate over the Papuans

Nikolai Miklouho-Maclay carried out expeditions to New Guinea three times and put forward a “project for the development of the Maclay Coast,” which provided for the preservation of the way of life of the Papuans with the achievement of a higher level of self-government based on already existing local customs. At the same time, the Maclay Coast was supposed to be under Russian protectorate and become one of the bases for the Navy of the Russian Empire.

This project, however, turned out to be impracticable - by the time of Miklouho-Maclay’s third trip, most of his friends among the Papuans, including Tui, had already died, and the villagers were mired in internecine conflicts. Russian naval officers, having studied local conditions, came to the conclusion that they were not suitable for Russian warships.

In 1885, New Guinea was divided between Germany and Great Britain, which finally closed the question of the possibility of implementing the projects of the Russian traveler.

Map of New Guinea in 1884 showing annexation zones. The Maclay Coast is also designated on German territory.

The bright figure of Nikolai Nikolaevich Miklouho-Maclay, who was born on July 17, 1846 in the village of Yazykovo, Novgorod province, seems to have been plowed up and down. The tireless traveler, very popular during his lifetime and soon forgotten after his death at the age of 42, gained a textbook resonance in the USSR, becoming both a colorful character in the school curriculum and a powerful forerunner of the struggle against colonialism and racism. When, after the war, in the memorable era of “little pictures,” Alexander Razumny’s feature film “Miklouho-Maclay” (1947) was released, the viewer felt the progressive nature of the scientist, including visually: the same actor Sergei Kurilov starred in the title role, who would play a few years later in the biographical film by Grigory Kozintsev Vissarion Belinsky.

“It is often hard to believe that such a small and weak person could do such things,” Admiral Kopytov wrote about Miklouho-Maclay. Photo: RIA Novosti

Having been sent to the Peter and Paul Fortress as a high school student at the age of 15 for participating in a student demonstration, having read Chernyshevsky and seeing Prince Kropotkin, Nikolai Nikolaevich nevertheless did not become a revolutionary. During the Stalinist era, a film about him was made at the right time, and the Institute of Ethnography of the USSR Academy of Sciences was named in his honor in the same 1947, also very appropriately: by the standards of 1949, this same Miklouho-Maclay was a real cosmopolitan. In fact, he rarely visited his native land, he had German and Polish roots on his mother’s side, and he obviously would not have approved of the song about “I don’t need the Turkish coast,” because he preferred to be alone in ideologically inconsistent remote corners of the world, but he got married in 1884 on an Australian widow. He also called himself Maclay at the age of 20, adding something Scottish to the Cossack surname inherited from his father.

Here it is very close to espionage, and an astute reader, suspecting the discoverer of information and intelligence activities, will most likely be right. The weighty volume of archival documents “The Unknown Miklouho-Maclay”, published quite recently, in 2014, edited by intelligence historian Oleg Karimov, allows us to verify this with specific facts. The traveler's correspondence with representatives of the royal family, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Naval Ministry and the Russian Geographical Society (RGS) leaves no doubt: he not only did not forget about his homeland from his distant New Guinea and Australian lands, but also tried to provide the empire with all possible and truly invaluable assistance, because others There were no sources of information in those parts at all.

The lone traveler, whose critics, by the way, are convinced that it was the loneliness of his expeditions that “irretrievably destroyed” his already poor health, turned out to be more difficult than it previously seemed. Already on his very first trip to the Papuans, considerations of the highest state order were left imprinted: in that same 1870, when 24-year-old Nikolai Miklukha (this is the last name he got from his father) knocked on the thresholds of St. Petersburg in search of money for the expedition, a 26-year-old officer -intelligence officer Baron Alexander Kaulbars presented through the Russian Geographical Society a note tempting for the authorities “On the Russian colonization of the island of New Guinea.” The strategic ideas of St. Petersburg and the plans of the researcher coincided, and support came personally from the autocrat: Alexander II allowed not only to include the young enthusiast as a passenger on the military corvette "Vityaz", which safely delivered him to the desired Astrolabe Bay, but also allowed him to reimburse the money spent by the scientist in excess of the 1200 rubles that he received for the trip from the Russian Geographical Society. With such good deeds, the agreement to officially call the traveler Miklouho-Maclay from now on became an inconspicuous and completely natural detail.

Thus, the trip resembled a well-thought-out and officially financed business trip, which had not only scientific goals. One of the supporters of the presence of the Russian Empire in the far corners of the Pacific Ocean back in the early 1870s was the heir to the throne, Tsarevich Alexander Alexandrovich. Having ascended the throne, Alexander III showed a very practical interest in the ideas of Miklouho-Maclay about a Russian protectorate over the Papuan Union. In the fall of 1882, the traveler met with the emperor in Gatchina 5 times in a month, after which the same clipper, renamed from “Vityaz” to “Skobelev”, headed to the shores of New Guinea with a very specific purpose. The head of the Naval Ministry, Vice Admiral Ivan Shestakov, gave very clear instructions about “acquiring a point to which we could claim ownership and raise our flag on it.”

But it never came to that. The commander of a detachment of ships in the Pacific Ocean, Rear Admiral Nikolai Kopytov, was delighted with the personality of the traveler and surprised by the local nature, but he only wished to stay in these latitudes to the enemy, concluding: “The local climate is distinguished by its dampness and becomes extremely harmful in hot weather.” During a short (only 8 days) stay in New Guinea in March 1883, Kopytov safely buried all the cherished dreams of Miklouho-Maclay, passionately shared by Alexander III. One of the arguments turned out to be truly lethal: the traveler proposed establishing fleet bases in places very remote from the main sea routes, but there was no way to equip coal depots on such islands to replenish fuel, water and provisions for Russian ships. The admiral also noted the enormous costs of defending Russia’s new Papuan borders, and the necessary funds would exceed the cost of the property being protected. Kopytov was a supporter of offensive tactics and proposed seizing the necessary coal warehouses from the British and leaving the exotic islands alone.

Miklouho-Maclay believed in his imperial dream to the last opportunity, and wrote personally to the emperor, but the naval elite clearly explained to the autocrat that the traveler was an ordinary “projector.” Meanwhile, first Great Britain and then Germany benefited strategically from Miklouho-Maclay’s discoveries in New Guinea and already in 1884 they divided this island among themselves, and the German colonialist Otto Finsch, who was familiar with the Russian traveler, presented himself to the Papuans as Maclay’s brother.

Dreams of a Russian protectorate over the Papuan Union remained unfulfilled, and the “generalist naturalist” could henceforth only be useful to the fatherland with information from the Green Continent. And already in 1886, Miklouho-Maclay would return to Russia, famous and terminally ill. And only in the 1960s would it become known that his early death in February 1888 was due to cancer, and not from tropical diseases, as contemporaries believed.

Today, when Miklouho-Maclay is often accused of lacking monumental works and a well-thought-out scientific program, returning to the same admiral opinions about the “searchlight”, the review of naval commander Kopytov, who buried his cherished plans, is very appropriate. In a letter to his wife in February 1883, he placed all the emphasis correctly: Miklouho-Maclay, whom he first met, “is an extremely interesting man, who did almost incredible things during his life with savages and during various travels to all corners of the Pacific Ocean. Listen to stories about his adventures gives a lot of pleasure, and it is often hard to believe that such a small and weak person could do such things. He speaks 12 languages, and the subject is not only educated, but learned.”

He will remain a scientist in our memory.

Original taken from p_i_f in Miklouho-Maclay and his Papuans

display:inline">

Miklouho-Maclay lived only 41 years and since childhood he constantly fought for the right to life. At first he suffered from pneumonia, later malaria and fever, these diseases provoked constant fainting and bouts of delirium. Maclay's death was generally caused by a disease that doctors were unable to diagnose: the scientist had a sore jaw, one arm did not function, and there was severe swelling in his legs and abdomen. Many years later, during the reburial of Maclay's remains, studies were carried out, as a result of which it was established that Maclay had cancer of the jaw, and metastases had spread throughout the body.

Despite such a bouquet of diseases, Miklouho-Maclay constantly traveled, he traveled to the most remote corners of our planet and was not afraid to go where no civilized person had ever gone before. The scientist became the discoverer of Southeast Asia, Australia and Oceania; before him, no one was interested in the life of the indigenous population of these territories. In honor of the ethnographer’s expeditions, the area was named “Maclay Coast”.

The ethnographer's first expedition to New Guinea dates back to 1871. The traveler reached a distant land on the ship “Vityaz” and stayed to live with the natives. True, the first meeting was not without incidents: the locals greeted the ship friendly, agreed to board, but when they left, they heard a salvo and, of course, got scared. As it turned out, the salvo was fired as a greeting to new “friends,” but the natives did not appreciate the captain’s idea. As a result, Maclay persuaded the only daredevil remaining on the shore to become his guide.

The guy's name was Tui, he helped Maclay get in touch with the inhabitants of coastal villages. They, in turn, built a hut for the researcher. Later, Tui received a serious injury - a tree fell on him, Maclay was able to cure the man, for which he received fame as a healer who arrived... from the Moon. The Guineans seriously believed that the progenitor of the Rotei family had come to them in the guise of Maclay.

Maclay lived with the Papuans for a year, during which time an official obituary was already published in Russia, since no one believed that it was possible to survive in those conditions. True, the expedition on the ship “Emerald” nevertheless arrived to pick him up on time. The ethnographer sent a proposal to Russia to organize a Russian protectorate on the Maclay Coast, but the initiative was rejected. But in Germany the idea received approval, and soon Guinea became a German colony. True, this had a negative impact on the local residents: wars broke out among the tribes, many Papuans died, and the villages were empty. Organizing an independent state under the leadership of Miklouho-Maclay turned out to be an unrealistic task.

The traveler’s personal life was also interesting: despite constant illness and travel, he managed to start relationships with girls. Perhaps the most extravagant story was that of a patient whom Maclay treated during his medical practice. The girl died, bequeathing him a skull as a sign of eternal love. The ethnographer made a table lamp from it, which he then always took with him on his travels. Information has also been preserved about Maclay’s romances with girls from Papuan tribes.

Miklouho-Maclay also had an official wife, an Australian. The couple had two sons, Maclay moved the family to St. Petersburg, where they lived for 6 years. After the death of Miklouho-Maclay, his wife and children returned to Australia.

The name of Miklouho-Maclay is well known to everyone: an outstanding ethnographer did a lot to study the life of the indigenous population of New Guinea. It seemed to ordinary people that his life was akin to a breathtaking adventure, but in fact the great traveler faced enormous difficulties in his work, he was constantly overcome by illness.

At the end of the 19th century, scientists did not have an exact idea where man came from on planet Earth. However, they do not have it today. But it was only then, with the publication of Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species in 1859, that the long-awaited answer seemed about to be found. Although this theory split society. Many people did not agree that man is not a creation of God, but descended from a monkey.

It was at this time that young Russian student Nikolai Miklouho-Maclay, expelled from St. Petersburg University for his adherence to Chernyshevsky’s ideas, ended up in Europe. In Germany, his teacher was the ardent Darwinist Ernst Haeckel. At the same time, the Jena professor put forward a theory according to which in the historical past there was an intermediate link between monkey and man, the source material from which all races subsequently descended. The young scientist becomes an ardent supporter of this idea and decides to find this original form, which, in his opinion, is still preserved on Earth: in the Philippines, the islands of Melanesia and Malacca. A twenty-three-year-old researcher decides to go where ethnographers have not yet been. He believes that in New Guinea he will certainly be able to discover what he is looking for and enrich humanity with an unprecedented scientific discovery.

This whole idea would hardly have been able to come true if the chairman of the Russian Geographical Society, Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolaevich, had not decided to use the young scientist for his own purposes. He hoped that Miklouho-Maclay would be able to establish good relations with the Papuans and find suitable bays for Russian ships to anchor. The corvette Vityaz was just preparing for a long voyage across the Pacific Ocean. Its captain received orders to take on board a scientist who would study sponges or something like that. The ethnographer receives a separate cabin and everything necessary for a long life among the savages. After a tedious voyage of many days, the ship finally dropped anchor off the coast of New Guinea in Astrolabe Bay. The place was chosen by Miklouho-Maclay himself.

Many years later, a modest monument was erected on the site of Maclay's hut by scientists from the Soviet Union. Or, rather, a memorial stone that reminds us of the first real scientist who visited these lost places. We can say that this is one of the most forgotten and least visited monuments on earth.

Now local residents can show you where the stone erected in honor of “Tamo Russ” is located. Our adventurous compatriot received this honorable nickname 130 years ago. Local residents, as is known, not only did not kill Miklouho-Maclay, but even recognized him as something like a leader - “tamo boro boro.” And when a year later he was about to leave, the savages tearfully asked him to stay, promising him wives, food and many other simple native joys. When it came to the colonization of these places by Germany and representatives of the German administration tried to enter the locked abandoned house of the scientist, the Papuans resolutely opposed this. They still believed that Miklouho-Maclay would definitely return.

What did the Russian scientist do to deserve such love from savages? He was one of the few who treated them simply as human beings, that is, as equals, although he called them somewhat condescendingly “my Papuans.” This is probably how it really was, since for a long time as soon as a person traveling through these places uttered the name of Maclay, all doors opened before him, and the most ferocious natives became safer than lambs.

However, this ultimately served them badly. In October 1884, the German ethnographer Finsch appeared in these places. He pretended to be Maclay's brother and thereby gained the favor of the Papuans. And then what Miklouho-Maclay feared most happened happened. The northeastern part of New Guinea became a German colony. There could no longer be any talk of any independent Papuan union, which the Russian scientist so dreamed of. Attempts to establish a Russian colony on these shores also failed. The Russian government at that time had completely different concerns than organizing a settlement on a God-forsaken piece of land unknown where.

Naturally, the source material that would confirm Haeckel’s theory was also not found by scientists. And neither in New Guinea, where Miklouho-Maclay returned twice more, in 1876 and 1883, nor in Malacca, nor in Indonesia. Not even traces of that embryonic form were found, from which the process of dividing humanity into black and white was supposed to begin. Nevertheless, scientists collected a wealth of scientific material. It formed the basis of the diary, which, unfortunately, was fully published only in 1923, 35 years after the death of the great researcher. This book, which he was finishing while delirious, became his life’s work, since he had nothing else left.

There were two sons and a wife, Margaret Robertson, the daughter of the former Prime Minister of New South Wales, at home in Sydney and St. Petersburg, but in a letter to his brother shortly before his death he admits: “In the matter regarding the Maclay Bank I suffered an almost complete fiasco.” If we add to this his death at the age of 42 from numerous diseases suffered during his travels, it turns out that he lived and died only for the sake of the Papuans. Well, today his dream has come true - Papua New Guinea is an independent state, and on the banks of the Maclay, where practically nothing has changed since then, Russian words are still remembered.