150 REPORT — 1855. 



Dually filled with a quid of tobacco, betel, and other condiments. There were many 

 free schools in Siam ; education was conducted by the priests, and four-fifths of the 

 people could read. Their principal town, Bankok, had a population exceeding that 

 of Glasgow. 



Hurricanes in the West Indies and the North Atlantic from 1493 to 1855. 



By Seiior Andres Poey, of Havana. 

 A chronological table, comprising 3G4 cyclone hurricanes, which have occurred in 

 the West Indies and in the North Atlantic within 362 years, from 1493 to 1855, with 

 a bibliographical list of 300 authors, books and periodicals. 



Account of the Ascent of Mont Blanc by a, new Route from tJie Side of Italy. 

 By J. N. Ramsay. 



Ascent of the Mountain Sumeru Parbiit. By Capt. Robertson. 



In October 1851, Lieut. Sandilands, of the 8th (the King's regiment), and myself 

 %'isited the hot springs of Juninotsi. One of the Brahmins of Kursallee, who acted 

 as our guide, showed us a memorandum of Lieut. Yule, of the Bengal Engineers, 

 recording an attempt to reach the summit of the ridge which separates the waters of 

 the Jumna from those of the Touse. At the season when Lieut. Yule made this 

 attempt there was a great deal of snow on the mountain, and he was unable to reach 

 the summit of the ridge ; but it appeared to him that at a later season of the year the 

 point might have been reached without difficulty ; even the snowy peaks above, it 

 seemed to him, might not have proved inaccessible. Confiding in Lieut Yule's 

 opinion, and there being very little snow on the mountain, Lieut. Sandilands and 

 myself resolved to make an effort to reach the summit of one of these peaks called 

 Sumeru Parbut. We promised the Brahmin 50 rupees if he would accompany us 

 and act as our guide. He agreed to do so, and engaged five rajpoots to join the 

 party. 



On the 28th we slept at Reshi Wodar, a spot near the hot springs, two hours and 

 twenty minutes from Kursallee, the last village on the Jumna. On the 29th we 

 removed our tent from Reshi Wodar to a small plateau under a peak called Dhotee 

 Tiba. This plateau is situated in the region between the upper limit of the growth 

 of shrubs and the snow, at about one-half of its height. The elevation above the sea 

 was probably between 13,000 and 14,000 feet. After the sun set the air became 

 intensely cold. A soda-water bottle, filled with water, we found next morning burst. 

 We had" employed a gang of people to carry up wood to our bivouac, and kept a fire 

 burning all night in front of our tent. 



Mr. D'Aguilar, the chaplain of Meevut, who had arrived at Kursallee in the 

 morning, hearing of our projected attempt, resolved to join our party, and came up 

 to the bivouac in the evening. Mr. D'Aguilar was badly provided with blankets and 

 clothing, and he suffered so much from the cold that he was unable to sleep. He 

 spent the night miserably, cowering over the fire, with his blankets huddled round 

 him. Sandilands and 1 lay down on our cots without undressing, and covering 

 ourselves with a pile of blankets, slept soundly, and did not feel the cold. The 

 Brahmin, the five rajpoots, and the two guides of Mr. D'Aguilar, slept in Mr. 

 D'Aguilar's tent. The whole party stript to the skin ; they lay down close together, 

 and covered themselves with their clothes and blankets. This is the way that the 

 mountaineers always bivouac. The ascent from Reshi Wodar to our tent occupied 

 two hours and nine minutes. 



At ten minutes past eight on the following morning we left our tent. In one hour 

 and thirty-five minutes we reached a flat-topped glacier. Here the breathing and 

 vision of Sandilands and several of the guides were a good deal affected. From this 

 point to the summit of the ridge, which separates the feeders of the Jumna from 

 those of the Tuuse, called by the natives Banderpouch ke Ghattee, we were an hour 

 and twenty-one minutes. From the top of this ridge — which, I believe, was never 

 before reached by any travellers, and which the natives afiirmed had never been 

 reached either by them or by any inhabitants of their valley — the view was magnifi- 

 cent. Below us was a great valley of ice, the glacier from which the Touse issues. 



