Mountain Journeys 43 



breathing is added to the general fever; a sensation of weight in the 

 chest appears, and the respiratory rate, like the pulse rate, increases; 

 then come lacerations of the lungs, symptoms of choking, and even 

 hemorrhages, a very rare phenomenon. . . . 



The death which has been observed in beasts of burden came, in 

 our opinion, from suffocation; we ourselves, in ascending the volcano 

 of Arequipa, experienced such respiratory difficulties that we had to 

 stop every ten steps. Loaded animals, which are not allowed to do so, 

 go on until they drop. In other cases, the illness attacks the digestive 

 organs in particular, and then there appear nausea, qualms, extreme 

 weakness, and finally vomiting, which gives a little relief. Affections 

 of the brain are much more dangerous; they are also characterized by 

 nausea and syncope, by a peculiar condition resembling drunkenness, 

 and even by madness. 



In general it is admitted that at great heights the pulse rate is more 

 rapid; that is because respiration itself has become much more rapid in 

 a rarefied air. But neither respiration nor circulation is accelerated if 

 one keeps perfectly quiet; several times, on the plateau of Tacora, after 

 sleeping our pulse rate was no more than 70 or 72 per minute, whereas 

 a few hours later the mere act of riding made it rise to 100 and 110. 

 (P. 34 et seq.) 



They reached the summit of the mountain in a state of absolute 

 exhaustion, and descended in a feverish condition which had not 

 completely disappeared the next day. (P. 38.) 



The account of the illustrious naturalist Charles Darwin iT agrees 

 perfectly with what we reported above in regard to the Chilean 

 Cordillera. On May 20, 1835, he crossed the Andes, going from 

 Santiago to Mendoza through the pass of Portillo (4360 meters) : 



About noon we began the tiresome ascent of Peuquenes, and then 

 for the first time we felt some slight difficulty in breathing. The mules 

 stopped every fifty steps, and the poor brave animals, after a few 

 seconds, started again of one accord. Shortness of breath in rarefied 

 air is called by the Chileans puna; and they have very ridiculous ideas 

 about its cause. Some say: all the waters here have the puna; others: 

 where there is snow, there is the puna; which no doubt is true. It is 

 considered a sort of disease, and they showed me crosses on the graves 

 of people who had died "punado." Except in regard to people who had 

 lung or heart diseases, I think that these ideas are mistaken. No doubt 

 at these elevations a very sick man will experience greater difficulty 

 in breathing than others, and if he dies, this may have been the cause. 



The only sensation I felt was a slight oppression in the head and 

 chest; this sensation is similar to what one feels when he leaves a warm 

 room and exposes himself to icy air. There was much imagination in 

 this; for, having found fossil shells on the highest peak, I forgot the 

 puna completely in my joy. But certainly fatigue from walking is ex- 

 treme, and breathing becomes deep and laborious. I cannot understand 

 how Humboldt and others could have ascended to an elevation of 19,000 

 feet; beyond doubt a residence of some months in the lofty region of 



