The second volume of this collected works of E.P. Kovalevsky, a diplomat, traveler, scientist, public figure, includes an essay on the results of his expedition to Africa, first published in 1849. Archival materials supplement the publication, including the note “About gold mining in Russia", compiled by E.P. Kovalevsky for the pasha of Egypt, Muhammad Ali, and the "Report on the gold-bearing placers of eastern Sudan, located in the possession of the Viceroy of Egypt" by Egyptian engineers who studied at the Ural factories under the leadership of Yegor Petrovich, are published for the first time. The book will be appreciated by everyone who studies the history of Russian diplomacy and geological and geographical research of the mid-19th century, as well as a wide range of readers.