146 Historical 



symptoms reappeared, or to speak more exactly, they became so 

 intense that he was compelled to make special mention of them: 



August 19, 1848. During these three days of ascent, I suffered 

 greatly from the effects of the rarefaction of the air, being constantly 

 tormented by a painful headache which the least exercise aggravated 

 .... The temperature of the air was 50 °F. 



The botanist Dalton Hooker is still more explicit.- 50 



At the height of 16,000 feet, while ascending the pass of Kang- 



lachem, December 2, 1848, in eastern Nepal, Hooker experienced 



difficulty in breathing, great lassitude, vertigo and headache. (Vol. 



I, p. 247.) 



Some days afterwards, on the mountain of Nango, at a height of 



15,000 feet: 



I found it quite impossible to remain composed because of the 

 increase of the pains in my forehead, lassitude, and oppression. 

 (P. 252.) 



July 25, 1849, crossing of the pass of Kongra-Lama (15,741 

 feet) : 



After two hours, I was chilled and stiff, and was suffering from 

 headache and vertigo due to the elevation. (Vol. II, p. 82.) 

 September 18, ascent of the pass of Sebolah (17,517 feet) : 



I took the pulse rate of eight persons after a rest of two hours; 

 it varied from 80 to 112, mine being 104. As usual at these altitudes, 

 everyone was suffering with vertigo and headaches. (P. 142.) 



October 15, night passed at an elevation of 17,000 feet: 



My coolies were in good health; but those of Campbell were in a 

 very sad condition of pain and fatigue; their faces were swollen and 

 their pulses rapid; some were practically insensible with symptoms of 

 weak cerebral pressure; the latter were especially the Ghorkas 

 (natives of Nepal). I have never experienced bleeding from the nose, 

 ears, lips, or eyes, and have never seen such symptoms in my com- 

 panions on such occasions; nor have I met any recent traveller who 

 has experienced them. Dr. Thomson has noted this too, and when 

 we were together in Switzerland, we learned from A. Balmat, Fr. 

 Cartet, and other guides of experience on Mont Blanc that they had 

 never witnessed these symptoms, nor the darkening of the skin, so 

 frequently mentioned by Alpine travellers. (P. 160.) .... 



October 17. It is quite surprising to see that Turner nowhere 

 alludes to difficulty in breathing, and speaks only in one place of 

 headache, even at this great elevation. That is probably because he 

 was always on horseback. When I was riding, I never felt any dis- 

 turbance in my breathing, my head, or my stomach, even at 18,300 

 feet (5580 meters). (P. 167.) 



We see that it is while they are crossing passes that travellers 

 feel symptoms; ascents, properly so-called, of isolated mountains 



