POPULAR MISCELLANY. 



569 



ern Soodanians is probably inferior to that of 

 all the other negro races of the same type, 

 and exhibits a most pronounced dolicoceph- 

 aly. The eastern Soodanians approach this 

 type, but some of its most characteristic 

 marks are -less distinct in them. To them 

 may be attached the negroes living on the 

 banks of the upper Nile and the great lakes- 

 Furthermore, a great variety is apparent 

 among the races, and the ethnic mixtures 

 are considerable. Africa is not, in fact, that 

 stationary land which it is generally figured 

 to be. It has, like the other continents, its 

 grand movements of people and races. A 

 current which is sometimes slow, sometimes 

 more or less rapid, which seems to have 

 existed for several centuries, is drawing 

 the negro populations from the interior. 

 Northeast of the Gulf of Guinea, toward 

 the coast, the nature and importance of this 

 movement, which is pushing the population 

 from east to west, can be appreciated best 

 at the Gaboon. There the Gaboonese first 

 subjugated and absorbed the Negrilles, 

 Akoas, and others ; then the Bakales pushed 

 them farther west ; and the last are now 

 pressed by the Fans, who are coming down 

 from the interior. The Caffres are not a 

 simple ethnic element, but are a mixture of 

 negro and Bushman elements complicated 

 with Arabian and even Malaysian elements. 

 The Bushmen are the real indigenous race 

 of Southern Africa ; the Hottentots, theKo- 

 ranas, the Gonaquas, and the Namaquas, are 

 only hybrids of this race mixed in different 

 degrees with the negro race. 



Mr. Whymper's Experiments with 

 "Mountain-Sickness." Mr. Edward Whym- 

 per, in relating the story of his ascent of 

 the mountains Chimborazo and Cotopaxi, has 

 described the efforts which he made to coun- 

 teract the " mountain-sickness " or sense of 

 exhaustion and feverishness which attacks 

 all persons who venture to great heights. 

 Till his own attempt was made, he had not 

 known of any traveler afflicted with the pe- 

 culiar feeling who bad deliberately " sat it 

 out, and had a pitched battle with the ene- 

 my," or of any one who had suggested the 

 bare possibility of coming out victorious 

 from such an encounter, yet, upon doing so, 

 he felt, depended the chance of pushing ex- 

 plorations into the highest regions of the 



earth, and he was anxious to test whether 

 his organization could not accommodate it- 

 self to the required conditions. Only three 

 well - authenticated instances were known 

 of persons who had reached the height of 

 twenty thousand feet, and their stories gave 

 no light on the subject ; but a person who 

 had reached the height of between seven- 

 teen and eighteen thousand feet told him 

 that, though he never had suffered from the 

 affection, he could not escape it at such ele- 

 vations. On the first day of his ascent of 

 Chimborazo, he reached a height of 14,400 

 feet. On the next day he reached 1G,500 

 feet, and established himself there with 

 great difficulty. "The mules were forced 

 up to the very last yard that they could go, 

 and, staggering under their burdens, which 

 were scarcely more than half the weight 

 they were accustomed to carry, stopped re- 

 peatedly, and by their tremblings and fall- 

 ing on their knees, and general behavior, 

 showed that they had been driven to the 

 very verge of exhaustion." Within an hour 

 Mr. Whymper and his Italian mountaineers, 

 the Carrels, were lying on their backs, inca- 

 pable of making the least exertion, feverish, 

 with intense headaches, and unable to sat- 

 isfy their desire for air, except by breath- 

 ing with open mouths. " This naturally 

 parched the throat, and produced a craving 

 for drink which we were unable to satisfy, 

 partly from the difficulty of obtaining it, 

 and partly from the difficulty of swallowing 

 it, for, when we got enough, we were unable 

 to drink, we could only sip ; and not to save 

 our lives could we have taken a quarter of 

 a pint at a draught. ' Before one tenth of 

 it was down, we were obliged to stop for 

 breath, and gasp again, until our throats 

 were as dry as ever. Besides having our 

 normal rate of breathing largely acceler- 

 ated, we found it impossible to get along 

 without every now and then giving a spas- 

 modic gulp, just like fishes when taken out 

 of the water. Of course, there was no de- 

 sire to eat ; but we wished to smoke ; and 

 even our pipes almost refused to burn, for 

 they, like ourselves, wanted more oiygen." 

 He obtained relief by taking chlorate of pot- 

 ash, and in two or three days the party had 

 become accustomed to the situation, and 

 were able to continue their work. The next 

 camp was pitched at a height of 17,400 feet. 



