Mountain Journeys 163 



During the ascent (says Spencer) 2 " I suffered slightly from short- 

 ness of breath and felt some sluggishness in moving. But hardly had 

 I reached the summit when the symptoms left me, and it seemed to 

 me that I was lighter, that I could float in the air. 



The thermometer at the summit registered 62°F. (Vol. I, p. 271.) 



In June, 1858, second ascent of the same traveller. This time, 

 he did not say a word about physiological symptoms. 



In another part of the island, another English explorer, 

 Brooke,- 54 ascended Tabalau Indu in March, 1858. It is difficult 

 not to attribute to the altitude a part of the causes of this ikak 

 of which the natives speak and which one of his companions 

 experienced: 



The climb was hard; the heat was excessive; every step seemed 

 the last one could make .... We reached the summit and rested there 

 with satisfaction. Poor X . . . was in great distress and lay down on 

 his back, while some of his servants went to seek "the friend of the 

 traveller", a very abundant root, from which they squeeze a cool 

 liquid with a slight taste of wood. It is a great mistake to drink, for 

 one has constant thirst, and is attacked by what the natives call 

 "ikak", a painful oppression in the chest, with difficulty in breathing. 

 (P. 305.) 



Malacca. — In his ascent of Mount Ophir, Braddel 255 experi- 

 enced some discomfort: 



When I was near the summit, I had a violent headache and severe 

 throbbing in my temples; I bathed my brow with brandy, which 

 relieved me .... But I felt a peculiar fatigue and stretched out on 

 the ground. (P. 87.) 



Japan. — The first ascent of Fuji-yama of which I have found 

 an account was made in 1860 by Rutherford Alcock. L ' '■ He esti- 

 mates at 14,177 feet (4320 meters) the height of this volcano 

 which has been extinct since 1707. It took him eight hours to 

 reach the summit; and he definitely felt the effect of rarefaction 

 of the air: 



The second half of the ascent was much more difficult .... The 

 air became very rare and evidently affected respiration .... It took 

 more than one hour of struggling, stopping frequently to breathe and 

 to rest our legs and our backs, which pained us; when we reached 

 the top, we were absolutely at the end of our strength. The temper- 

 ature was 54° F. (P. 344.) 



Gubbins, 257 who ascended the volcano August 10, 1872, com- 

 plains only of fatigue. But Jeffreys,-"* whose ascent was on May 4, 

 1874, mentions clearly real symptoms of decompression, attacking 

 even the natives: 



