Mountain Journeys 123 



The book, which contains the personal notes of each tourist, 

 shows absolutely nothing, except the general vanity of motives 

 which impelled so many persons to this painful ascent. Physio- 

 logical symptoms are not even mentioned. Count Russell alone 

 (August 24, 1863) says: "no spitting of blood". (P. 50.) 



Finally, I will quote in this section a few observations 17,! made 

 in an ascent of Mulahacen, the highest peak of the Sierra Nevada 

 of Spain; they contain the outline of a strange theory: 



The effects produced by the rarity of the air upon the lungs and 

 the body were not felt as long as we remained on the mules. But 

 now that we had to make muscular efforts, a greater shift of energy 

 is necessary than in a dense atmosphere. The equilibrium of the air, 

 which supports the bones as the water does for fishes, fails, and the 

 muscles are forced to lift a greater weight; hence exhaustion. (P. 157). 



7. The Caucasus, Armenia, Persia. 

 Caucasus. The ascents of the lofty summits of the Caucasus are 

 quite recent. Klaproth, 177 in the account of his journey to Mount 

 Caucasus and Georgia, made in 1807-1808, said: 



No one has ascended Elbrouz; and the Caucasians think that no 

 one can reach its summit without special permission from God. (Vol. 

 I, p. 131). 



A very serious attempt to ascend to the summit of Kasbek or 

 Mquinvari (5030 meters) was made September 17, 1812, by 

 Engelhard and Parrot. 178 



The two travellers camped at the line of perpetual snow; Parrot 

 alone undertook the ascent to the summit. He had to surmount 

 the usual mountain difficulties; but, he adds: 



The most annoying thing to me was a strange lassitude which 

 forced me to rest every fifty steps; it arose less from oppression 

 of the chest than from a complete weakness of the muscles which 

 seized me suddenly, and which soon passed when I stopped for only 

 a half-minute. It was generally followed by a strange and agreeable 

 sensation, as if I were in a new element, to which my body, made for 

 the stronger pressure of the lower regions, was superior in strength. 

 An inevitable consequence of the extremely rarified air which sur- 

 rounded us was the acceleration of the pulse and the respiration; but 

 distress and vertigo troubled neither me nor my companions. In 

 return, I observed in them and myself a weakening of several sense 

 organs; we were obliged to talk very loud to make each other hear; 

 we had difficulty in talking, not because respiration failed us, but 

 because our tongues had lost their flexibility; even the eye seemed 

 less active, and one would have said that an inner cause prevented 

 it from seeing distinctly and at a great distance. (P. 302.) 



