Mountain Journeys 77 



caused instead by the rarity of the air. At any rate, we smelled no 

 odor of sulphur. 



Of the four of us, my American friend and I were the only ones 

 who felt no discomfort. (P. 123.) 



Before arriving at the Rambleta (11,680 feet), many of us suffered 

 more or less from difficulty in breathing. One of my companions, in 

 particular, could not take more than eight to ten steps without 

 stopping, thus forcing us to wait for him. (P. 126.) 



After a great many halts to regain our breath, we reached the 

 summit. (P. 128.) 



We went back by the "Mai Pais", the descent of which was as 

 disagreeable as the ascent, except that our respiration was much 

 freer. (P. 136.) 



In summary, the Peak of Teneriffe is, like Etna, a limited moun- 

 tain, in the ascent of which many travellers feel no great effects, 

 those who are ill being only slightly affected. 



5. Alps. 



It is not until the end of the last century that ascents were made 

 in the Alps to heights sufficient to bring on physiological disturb- 

 ances. Until the time of Canon Bourrit and the illustrious De Saus- 

 sure, only a few chamois hunters had ventured above the line of 

 perpetual snow. The main peak of Mont Blanc, today traversed in 

 all directions every year by hundreds of tourists, bore the sig- 

 nificant name of the Accursed Mountains; in the seventeenth cen- 

 tury, the Bishop of Annecy, Jean d'Aranthon, 100 came to exorcise 

 its glaciers, which withdrew submissively after his benediction. Of 

 the rival summits of Monte Rosa and the Jungfrau, there was no 

 question. The principal passes had been frequented since the days 

 of the Romans; many armies had crossed them; the hospice of the 

 Grand Saint-Bernard was founded at the end of the tenth century, 

 but no one had thought of risking his life in the ascent of one of 

 the innumerable summits which tower above the beautiful Alpine 

 valleys: in 1740, the first Englishmen arrived at Montanvert! 



However, it was well known that travellers suffered sometimes, 

 in crossing the Alps, from pulmonary disturbances. Haller con- 

 siders them, as we shall see in the chapter devoted to the discussion 

 of theoretical explanations; he even speaks of hemoptyses observed 

 by Scheuchzer: "ut in primis in J. Sch. triste exemplum exstat". 110 

 I could not secure the work of this German geographer; m but 

 according to Meyer-Ahrens, 112 he must have experienced only the 

 oppression and threats (Vorboten) of hemorrhage. 



The first traveller who has given us an account of personal dis- 

 agreeable sensations, the second to make the ascent, today so com- 



