S92 M. Humboldt on two Attempts to ascend Chimhorazo. 



of £n)w, is almost entirely withdrawn from geognostic observa- 

 tion, since there are presented only single ridges composed of 

 much weathered strata. Organic life ceases in these lofty soli- 

 tudes. Scarcely do the condor and winged insects stray into 

 these attenuated strata of the atmosphere, the latter being 

 carried up by the currents of air. If the endeavours of tra- 

 velling natural philosophers, who strive to climb the higher 

 summits of the earth, is scarcely rewarded by a serious scien- 

 tific interest, there is, on the other hand, an active popular 

 participation in such endeavours. That which seems unattain- 

 able has a mysterious attractive power; we wish that all 

 should be explored, — at least attempted, though not to be ob- 

 tained. Chimhorazo has been the wearisome object of all in- 

 quiries addressed to me since my first return to Europe. The 

 thoroughly exploring of the most important laws of nature, 

 the most vivid delineations of stratified zones of plants and dif- 

 ferences in climates, determining, as the latter do, the object of 

 agriculture, were seldom capable of diverting attention from 

 the snow-clad summit which at that time (before Pentland's 

 joui'ney to Bolivia) was supposed to be the culminating point 

 of the dike-like Andes. 



I shall here extract from the still unprinted portion of my 

 journals, the simple narration of a mountain journey. The en- 

 tire detail of the trigonometrical measurement, which I made at 

 New lliobamba in the plain of Tapia, was made known in the 

 introduction to the first volume of my Asti'onomical Observations, 

 soon after my return. The geographical distribution of the 

 plants on the acclivity of Chimhorazo and the neighbouring 

 mountains (from the sea coast up to a height of 14,800 feet), 

 I have attempted to represent, by a figure in a table of my 

 Geographical and Physical Atlas of South America, according 

 to the excellent determination by Kunth of the alpine vegetation 

 of the Cordilleras, collected by Bonpland and myself. 



The history of the ascent itself, which can present but little 

 dramatic interest, was reserved for the fourth and last volume 

 of my journey towards the equatorial regions. But since my 

 friend M. Boussingault, now Professor of Chemistry at Lyons, 

 one of the most talented and learned travellers of modern times, 

 has recently, at my request, described in the Annals de Chimie 



