146 ASCENT OF CHIMBORAZO. 



that we thought it could certainly be reached in half an hour. Again 

 we came upon snow, increasingly solid, in which our feet did not sink 

 above two inches, which proved a great assistance to us in pursuing 

 our course up the steep incline which we were obliged to pursue, and 

 which was so abrupt that we could not but wonder at the perpendicu- 

 lar distance which every step involved. No obstacle threatened to ar- 

 rest us : bending sometimes a little to right, and then to left, and then 

 making straight for the summit, we gaily pursued our way. Towards 

 the left there certainly rose a steep escarpment of sheer, glassy ice ; but 

 as this was visible from a considerable distance, we avoided it without 

 loss of time. Our feet and hands were bitterly cold, and we were 

 compelled to halt now and then to get our breath, and occasionally 

 even to sit down for a few minutes, after which we started again with 

 new ardour. None of the peculiar sensations of sickness, distress, 

 acute headache, and palpitations, which travellers generally experience 

 upon lofty elevations, were felt by us; the atmospheric column was 

 still sufficient for easy respiration, and we could not but conclude that 

 some cause, independent of height, must be the reason for the morbid 

 symptoms in question. It must be confessed that during the first few 

 days of our residence at Quito we were troubled, like all new comers, 

 with shortness of breath, but (which is a most remarkable circum- 



i 



stance) we lost this symptom when ascending the crater of Pichincha, 

 which is a thousand toises (6000 feet) above the level of Quito. Per- 

 haps the sudden changes of climate, and the fatigue inherent to moun- 

 tain expeditions, have more to do with producing these discomforts 

 than any state of atmosphere at lofty heights. Thirst we certainly ex- 

 perienced, and we constantly kept lumps of snow in our mouths to 

 slake it. 



Our rapid ascent had already enabled us to look above the peaks of 

 the Cordilleras, and to descry a distance, furrowed with deep and ex- 

 tensive valleys, when filmy vapours, at first no thicker than spiders' 

 webs, and clinging to the sides of the mountains, began to float away 

 in the form of white fleeces, and, gradually collecting, <to obscure from 

 view the horizon. Suddenly, about eight o'clock, this curtain dilated, 

 swept towards the base of Chimborazo, and in a few minutes reached 

 the spot we had attained, becoming always denser, till it hid the sum- 

 mit from our eyes. Still we persisted in climbing, attracted by the 

 hope of attaining the top, the fog thickening, till we could not see 



