Béla Széchenyi

He was the son of Crescencia von Seilern und Aspang and Count István Széchenyi, the Minister of Public Works and Transport.

After his wife died in October 1872, Széchenyi decided to distract himself from the loss by making an expedition to Asia along with Gustav Kreitner (1847–1893), Lajos Lóczy (1849–1920) and Gábor Bálint (1844–1913).

[2] The Asia expedition began in December 1877 aboard the Austrian steamship Polluce and the team travelled to India, China, Indonesia and Thailand, with his main interest being tiger hunting.

The three volume book on the expedition was in Hungarian and German and read mainly in Europe but various rumours were spread in the United States.

One story was that Széchenyi was met in the middle of the Gobi desert by nomadic tribesmen who spoke "the purest Magyar" who fell at his feet and acknowledged their long-lost western brethren.