332 



GEOGRAPHICAL PROGRESS AND DISCOVERY. 



heard its detonations, which were very dis- 

 tinct and startling. It presented the appear- 

 ance of a regular cone, though less stately and 

 symmetrical than Cotopaxi. It has large beds of 

 snow on its summit, but above them its apex is 

 black, and seems to be formed of slopes of fine 

 ashes. At intervals of twenty to thirty minutes 

 there were discharges of jets of steam which 

 shot up 4,000 or 5,000 feet in the air, and then 

 spread out and drifted away on the wind. No 

 detonations were heard on Chimborazo, but 

 at Guaranda, 9,000 feet lower, they were loud 

 and clear. Cotopaxi emitted smoke and steam 

 constantly. At the distance of 65 miles 

 Whymper witnessed one violent eruption of 

 ashes, which were projected 20,000 feet into 

 the air, and produced the effect of twilight at 

 that distance, although it was noonday. The 

 most dangerous element in the eruptions of 

 Cotopaxi is the floods of water which rush down 

 its sides. The Ecuadorians believe that the 

 water pours out of the crater ; but "Whymper 

 explains the phenomenon by the melting of 

 the large glaciers (which are not visible, being 

 covered over with ash) by the heated cone. 

 It has been erroneously stated that glaciers do 

 not form on the Ecuadorian Andes, but Whym- 

 per found extensive ones on all the high mount- 

 ains. They do not usually descend lower 

 than 14,000 or 15,000 feet. The traveler did 

 not experience the terrific winds of the Andes 

 of which much has been written, and is in- 

 clined to believe that the force of the wind 

 is very much less than would ordinarily be 

 supposed. The astounding reports of the thun- 

 der-storms of the equatorial Andes are not 

 exaggerated. The air seems saturated with 

 electricity, and discharges are constantly heard, 

 the whole sky being filled with flashing bolts. 

 Whymper describes his experience of one of 

 these thunder-storms as follows : " I shall never 

 forget the occasion when on the top of Sincho- 

 lagua and close to the summit, on a narrow 

 ridge of icy snow in which we were cutting 

 footsteps, a ridge so steep and narrow that the 

 merest touch might have tumbled us over on 

 one or the other side, we were surprised by 

 a storm, which commenced without premoni- 

 tion, and in a few seconds raged above, below, 

 and around us, with a fury which made us 

 quiver, and maintained a ceaseless roll, as flash 

 after flash darted across our ridge, and others 

 struck, or appeared to strike, the rock pinna- 

 cles beneath us. With our axe-heads hissing, 

 and not knowing whether it was more danger- 

 ous to go down or up, we at length went for- 

 ward, snatched a few rocks from the immediate 

 top, and then fled, scarcely daring to look be- 

 hind, and escaped in safety, though astonished 

 to find ourselves alive." 



The following table contains a list of the 

 peaks ascended by Whymper, the date of the 

 ascents, the temperature at the summits, and 

 the absolute altitude of the mountains, as de- 

 termined by him, compared with the determi- 

 nations of Drs. Reiss and Stubel : 



The latest observations establish the fact 

 that the highest mountain of the globe is 

 Gaurisankar, of the Himalayas, which rises 

 8,840 metres above the sea. The five next 

 highest belong also to Asiatic orography. The 

 seventh highest mountain and the six follow- 

 ing it in order are found in South America. 

 The highest has an altitude of 7,010 metres. 

 In Africa is found the fourteenth in rank, 

 Kilima-N'daro, 5,705 metres. In North Amer- 

 ica, Popocatepetl, in Mexico, has a height of 

 5,410 metres. The highest mountain in Europe, 

 Mont-Blanc, is 4,810 metres, and Mount Ophir, 

 in Oceania, 4,222 metres in height. The high- 

 est pass in the world is Sanghi-Davan, in Asia 

 (6,685 metres). The highest inhabited place is 

 Kursok, also in Asia, which is situated at an 

 altitude of over 4,000 metres. 



The exploration of the Beni and other rivers 

 of Bolivia and the wide region of unknown 

 country through which they wind, in which 

 labor the late Professor Orton lost his life, has 

 since his death been continued by Dr. Edwin 

 R. Heath. He started September 27, 1880, on 

 a canoe-voyage down the Beni from Cabinas, 

 a rubber-camp on the Madidi, which enters 

 the Beni from the left. He discovered a new 

 affluent of the Beni from the south, on October 

 8th, and on the same day he reached the con- 

 fluence of the Beni and Madre de Dios. The 

 breadth of the Madre de Dios is about 735 feet, 

 and that of the Beni at this point 2,350 feet. 

 A little below he passed the mouth of an un- 

 known river, of about the size of the Yacuma, 

 entering the Beni from the north. He passed a 

 number of large islands, and farther on came to 

 some rapids and a cataract 30 feet high. Other 

 rapids were encountered farther down, and on 

 the llth of October he reached the junction of 

 the Mamore with the Beni. He ascended the 

 latter river in his canoe for 300 miles to Exal- 

 tacion and Santa Ana, and thence crossed the 

 pampas to Reyes. The cannibal Pacavara In- 

 dians have been supposed to inhabit the banks 

 of the Beni in great numbers, and India-rubber 

 traders have on that account avoided using this 

 natural highway. They have taken their mer- 

 chandise instead 200 miles up the river to 

 Reyes and then 200 miles across the pampas 

 to the Mamore. Dr. Heath encountered only 

 four families of Pacavaras on the Beni, from 

 the confluence of the Madidi to its mouth J 

 With the exception of the party conducted by 



