124 Historical 



Parrot was forced to stop at an elevation of 2168 fathoms; he 

 passed the night with his companions, but had to descend the next 

 day without having reached the summit, which he estimates has 

 a height of 2400 fathoms. 



In 1829, a military and scientific expedition approached Mount 

 Elbrouz (5620 meters) ; Kupffer 17; ' and the other scientists who 

 were in the party resolved to attempt the ascent of the giant of 

 the Caucasus. 



July 22, 1829, they reached the line of perpetual snow upon 

 its sides: 



We were forced to stop at nearly every step. The air is so rarified 

 that respiration is no longer able to restore the strength that one has 

 lost; the blood is in violent movement and causes inflammation in the 

 weakest parts .... All my senses were blunted, my head whirled, 

 I felt from time to time an indefinable dejection which I could not 

 control .... We were then at a height of 14,000 feet above sea level. 

 (P. 33.) 



However they had not reached the altitude of Monte Rosa; 

 they could go no higher, but one of their guides ascended to the 

 summit. 



Sjogrun, 180 who, May 26, 1836, made the ascent of "the highest 

 mountain of the Caucasus" (his account is not clear, but I think he 

 means Kasbek) , says absolutely nothing of physiological disturb- 

 ances. 



But Radde, 181 although his ascent of Elbrouz August 10, 1865, 

 was not completed because of bad weather, shows clearly in his 

 account the effect of rarefied air: 



Before us rose, all white, the summit of the mountain. A strong 

 west wind had risen. We stopped a certain time; weariness and 

 dizziness painfully affected my two companions and myself; we like- 

 wise experienced a strange weakness of the knees, which soon checked 

 all our movements .... 



We stopped more and more often; dizziness and weakness of the 

 knees increased; horrible fatigue (entsetzlich) weighed me down. 



We had reached a height of 14,925 feet (4557 meters). (P. 102.) 



In their journey, in 1868, Douglas W. Freshfield, Moore and 

 Tucker, 182 accompanied by a guide from Chamounix, Fr. Devouas- 

 soud, with whom they had made ascents in the Alps, made the two 

 difficult ascents of Kasbek and Elbrouz. 



July 1, ascent of Kasbek; night passed at a height of 3300 

 meters; except for the excessive fatigue which forced one of them 

 to lie down and nearly prevented another from reaching the 

 summit, our travellers notice nothing to interest us. 



