544 



MOUNTAIN EXPLORATION, RECENT. 



they encamped, Mr. Graham remarked on the 

 character of the scenery around them, that all 

 the peaks were set with rocky aiguilles, " all 

 equally black and equally impossible," many of 

 them showing 5,000 or 6,000 feet of sheer de- 

 scent. On the next day they reached the final 

 slope of the peak, looking down upon a mountain 

 of 22,516 feet and over its very summit upon 

 another of 21,001 feet, and found their eleva- 

 tion to be 22,700 feet, with the summit of the 

 mountain, 500 feet higher, in plain sight. They 

 were not, however, able to reach the summit. 

 At these unusual heights, " neither in this nor 

 in any other ascent," says Mr. Graham, "did 

 we feel any inconvenience in breathing other 

 than the ordinary panting inseparable from 

 any great muscular exertion. Headaches, nau- 

 sea, bleeding at the nose, temporary loss of 

 sight and hearing, were conspicuous only by 

 their absence, and the only organ perceptibly 

 affected was the heart, whose beatings became 

 very perceptible, quite audible, while the pace 

 was decidedly increased." Another attempt 

 having been made to reach Nanda Devi, and 

 defeated, Mr. Graham made a successful ascent 

 to the summit of the mountain A 21, 22,516 

 feet high, which he had looked down upon 

 from Dunagiri, and which he named Mount 

 Monal, and ascended 20,000 feet of its compan- 

 ion, A 22, 21,001 feet high. Returning to 

 Nynee Tal, he made another journey thence 

 in August and September to Kabru, taking in 

 on the way .Juboru, 21,300 or 21,400 feet, 

 the glacier of which was very steep, and gave 

 the party the hardest climbing they encoun- 

 tered in the Himalayas. The glaciers seem 

 to lie at a higher angle and the general slope 

 of the peaks appears to be greater in the Hima- 

 layas than in Switzerland. In the ascent of 

 Kabru the party made the most elevated camp 

 in the whole series of their explorations, at the 

 height of 18,500 feet. Their way toward the 

 summit lay through a long couloir, like a half 

 funnel crowned with rocks, in which the snow 

 was loose and just ready to slide ; along a steep 

 icy slope to a snow incline, and so to the foot 

 of the true peak ; then up nearly 1,000 feet of 

 most delightful rock-work, forming a^ perfect 

 staircase ; and a final slope of pure ice coated 

 with frozen snow, the angle of elevation of 

 which was from 45 to nearly 60. At 12-15, 

 says Mr. Graham, " we reached the lower sum- 

 mit of Kabru, 23,700 feet above the sea. The 

 glories of the view were beyond all compare. 

 Northwest, less than seventy miles, lay Mount 

 Everest, and I pointed it out to Boss, who had 

 never seen it, as the highest mountain in the 

 world. ' That it can not be,' he replied ; 

 4 those are higher,' pointing to two peaks which 

 towered far above the second and more distant 

 range, and showed over the slope of Everest, 

 at a rough guess some eighty to one hundred 

 miles farther north. I was astonished, but we 

 were all agreed that, in our judgment, the un- 

 known peaks, one rock and one snow, were 

 loftier. Of course, such an idea rests upon 



pure eye-sight ; but, looking fpom such a height, 

 objects appear in their true proportions, and 

 we could distinguish perfectly between the 

 peaks of known measurements, however slight 

 the difference. It has been suggested to me 

 since that we mistook Mount Everest; but 

 this is impossible ; for just here occurs the re- 

 markable break in the chain, and there is no 

 snow range at all between Kabru and the 

 group of Mount Everest. However, we had 

 no long time for the view, for the actual sum- 

 mit was connected with ours by a short arete, 

 and rose about three hundred feet of the steep- 

 est ice I have seen; we went at it, and after an 

 hour and a half we reached our goal. The sum- 

 mit was cleft by three gashes, and into one of 

 these we got. The absolute summit was little 

 more than a pillar of ice, and rose at most 

 thirty or forty feet above us still, but, inde- 

 pendently of the extreme difficulty and danger 

 of attempting it, we had no time. A bottle 

 was left at our highest point, and we descend- 

 ed. The descent was worse than the ascent, 

 and we had to proceed backward, as the snow 

 might give way at any moment. At last we 

 reached the rocks, and there we fixed a large 

 Bhotan flag on a smooth slab ; we then hast- 

 ened on." The summit of Kabru is given by 

 the G. T. S. at 24,015 feet. Mr. Graham's ex- 

 treme point must therefore have been within 

 a few feet of 24,000 feet. 



Mr. Johnston's Ascent of Monnt Rilimandjaro. M. 

 H. H. Johnston, as the leader of an expedition 

 projected by a joint committee of the British 

 Association and the Royal Society, made a 

 visit to Kilimandjaro, the great mountain of 

 Africa, in 1883, and spemt five months on its 

 slopes in the summer and autumn of that year. 

 Beginning the ascent with forty carriers and 

 some guides provided by one of the chiefs of 

 the country, the party crossed the cultivated 

 zone, which ended at the height of 5,000 feet 

 above the sea, and entered a pleasant, health- 

 ful, grassy, wooded, well watered country in 

 which animal life was abundant, and which 

 had a very gradual ascent. His encampment, 

 at the height of about 10,000 feet, was agree- 

 ably located, convenient to the lower country, 

 and about four miles in a direct line from Kima- 

 wenzi, and seven miles from Kib6. His first ex- 

 cursion was to the base of Kimawenzi. The 

 ascent was impracticable on account of the 

 weather, and it seemed doubtful whether the 

 slope afforded sufficient foothold to make it 

 feasible in any weather. The snow varied 

 greatly in quantity, and very rapidly on the 

 mountain-sides, which, when bare, appeared 

 composed of lava-rocks with crevices and glis- 

 sades filled with a reddish sand. Mr. John- 

 ston's chief object was to reach the snows, and, 

 if possible, the summit of Kib6, but he had dif- 

 ficulty in inducing his native companions, on 

 account of their superstitions, to accompany 

 him. Vegetation appeared fairly flourishing 

 up to a height of nearly 13,000 feet, and wasps 

 and bees were still to be seen. A little high* 



