In the Volcanic Region i45 



anxious gaze that we viewed the black cloud-banks on the 

 horizon which foretold bad weather during the night. Our 

 fears proved well-formed. The weather changed very quickly. 

 Mist rose and enveloped the camp, and as darkness fell our 

 thermometer sank to one degree Celsius. Howling gusts of 

 wind, which rose to a furious gale during the night and pitilessly 

 pierced the flimsy sides of the tents, swept full over the ridge. 

 Everyone who owned a thick suit put it on : no one thought of 

 sleep. Wrapped round with blankets we listened to the raging 

 of the storm, expecting our tents to collapse every moment. At 

 midnight Grauer's flew away ; being the largest it offered the 

 greatest surface of resistance to the wind. The others remained 

 standing, it is true, but the pegs worked loose, the awnings 

 were soon flapping about in the wind, and there was a general 

 shouting for " boys " to go and fasten them. The wind in- 

 creased steadily all the time. Towards morning the heavy 

 clouds emptied themselves in violent showers of hail which 

 rattled down upon the roofs of the tents, and covered every- 

 thing around with a white mantle. 



The morning dawned on a wintry scene. Our tents and 

 the whole region around us were covered with snow. Otherwise 

 the situation remained unchanged : impenetrable fog, wind and 

 cold, with the thermometer, indicating the same temperature as 

 the evening before. An ascent of the peak under such condi- 

 tions could not be entertained for a moment, as there was no 

 path of any kind and it was impossible to find our bearings 

 in a heavy mist which prevented our seeing farther than twenty 

 metres before us. As there was nothing to be done, we con- 

 gregated in Grauer's " salon " by the dim light of a lamp, 

 closed in the tent against the cold, and played " nap." Now 

 and again a stiff glass of grog served to keep up our spirits. 

 Thus we hung on for more favourable weather, and this came 

 towards three o'clock in the afternoon. The fog dispersed and 

 the summit was clear again. 



Wiese, Grauer and I prepared to ascend at once. First we 

 had to pass through the senecio forest, which is very difficult to 



