QUITO. 307 



Still the arduous and perilous ascent of lofty mountains has 

 excited universal interest in all ages of the world. The inac- 

 cessible ever exerts a secret fascination. Man is most power- 

 fully attracted by that which is least attainable, and almost 

 defies investigation. 



For all such undertakings Humboldt was pre-eminently 

 qualified by his indomitable courage and unconquerable en- 

 durance. Though failing from an attack of giddiness and 

 insensibility to reach the summit of Pichincha on his first 

 ascent on April 14, he determined to repeat the attempt on 

 May 26, since, as he remarked, ' it seemed a disgrace to leave 

 the high plain of Quito without personally examining the 

 crater of Pichincha.' 



. . . . ' The attendants and the large instruments were, as 

 on the previous occasion, left below, and I commenced tie 

 1 ascent accompanied only by a very intelligent Creole, M. Ur- 

 quinaona, and an Indian, Felipe Aldas. We sat down, dis- 

 heartened, at the foot of the peak. The crater we were in 

 search of lay, no doubt, behind the wall of rock to the west of 

 us, but how were we to reach it and ascend this precipice ? 

 The towering masses seemed too steep, and indeed, in some 

 places, were almost perpendicular. 



4 In ascending the Peak of Teneriffe, I had greatly facilitated 

 the climb up the cone of ashes, by following the edge of a 

 projecting ridge of rock, and holding on by my hands, though 

 in so doing I was a good deal lacerated ; I therefore resolved 

 to attempt the ascent here, by similar means, following the 

 slope of pumice which lay against the edge of the southern 

 precipice. We made two fatiguing ascents, reaching, in one 

 case, to a height of about 300 feet, and in another to more than 

 700 feet. The covering of snow seemed to bear us safely, and 

 our hopes of reaching the edge of the crater were all the 

 stronger from the probability that Bouguer and La Condamine 

 had taken the same route, when ascending the snow-covered 

 slopes of the cone of ashes, some sixty years previously. The 

 snow was so hard that our chief peril seemed to be lest by a 

 fall we should roll down the sloping surface with accelerating 

 speed, and come in contact with some of the sharp rocks that 

 projected out of the pumice. Suddenly, with a loud cry of 



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