540 



MOUNTAIN EXPLORATION, RECENT. 



eight miles northeast, and Mount Waiti- 

 pu, in the great bend of the Cotinga river, 

 southeast by east. To reach Rorairaa it 

 was necessary to cut a path through the 

 extremely thick underwood of the forest 

 covering the slope that appeared to have 

 been formed by the rock breaking away 

 from the sides of the mountain. The fool; 

 of the rocky cliff was reached at the height 

 of about 7,000 feet above the sea, through a 

 growth of brambles and prickly bromelias. 

 The Indians had endeavored to cut a path 

 toward a spot that Mr. "Whiteley had ob- 

 served on his journey where the vertical 

 cliff had broken away, which seemed to 

 give a faint promise of possibility of ascent, 

 and to be the only spot where it would be 

 worth while to look for a route, but they 

 did not find the spot, and the explorer found 

 his way stopped by an enormous rock, with 

 precipices on both sides. Looking up, he 

 could distinguish through the mist trees and 

 shrubs growing on the top, and judged 

 boiling the thermometer that he was but 

 a short distance from the main cliff. Mr. 

 "Whiteley also expressed the opinion that it 

 seemed impossible to ascend either Roraimj 

 or Kukenam except with a balloon, and ihi 

 this, on account of the direction of the pre 

 vailing wind, would have to be done froi 

 the south. It might be possible to ascend 

 by forming scaffoldings, for which the for- 

 ests of the slopes would furnish abundance 

 of timber, but this would require much tim< 

 and great expense. A mere ascent of the 

 mountain for one or two dnys would not be 

 of particular use to science, tor it would take 

 a long time to collect the natural objects in 

 zoology and botany from the large extent 

 of its surface. Accurate measurements of 

 these mountains are wanting. Mr. Brown 

 gives the length of Roraima as seven or 

 eight miles ; the mean of Mr. Wbiteley's ob- 

 servations give 7,759 feet as its height. 



Mr. E. F. Ira Thurm has made another 

 attempt to ascend Roraima. In December, 

 1884, he had ascended the slope to a height 

 of 5,000 feet, " through a very garden of 

 orchids and of most beautiful and strange 

 plants." In a later dispatch, to Kew, Mr. 

 Im Thurm announced that he had succeed* " 

 in reaching the top, and had found it to 

 a flat table-land about twelve miles long, 

 covered with vegetation, and with streams 

 of considerable size flowing from it. 



Mr. Whymper in the Ecuadorian Andes. Mr. 

 Edward Whymper made an exploration of 

 the Andes of the Republic of Ecuador in 1880, 

 with especial reference to studying the prac- 

 ticability of living at great elevations, lie 

 ascended Chimborazo and remained in its 



to the Yuruani river. During his second visit, neighborhood for four weeks ; then, having 

 m August, 1883, he made an excursion to the made an unsuccessful attempt to ascend Illiniza 

 foot of the vertical part of Roraima, with a from the south, he ascended Cotopaxi and re- 

 view to attempting the ascent. From his mained on its summit for twenty-six consecutive 

 camp Mount Kukenam bore north, Rorairaa hours; ascended Sincholagua,Antisana, and two 



