QUITO. 311 



the several peaks of Antisana, Cotopaxi, Tunguragua and Ilinica: 

 but of all his mountain expeditions none has excited more 

 attention than the ascent of Chimborazo. 



On June 9, the travellers left Quito for Chimborazo ; and 

 on June 23, 1802 the Eve of the Festival of St. John, within 

 a day of the anniversary of his visit to the crater of the Peak 

 of TenerifTe, three years before, June 22, 1799 Humboldt 

 climbed almost to the summit of the giant mountain, at that 

 time regarded as the highest in the world, and attained the 

 height never before reached by any human being of 18,096 

 feet. 



We give the following extracts from the detailed account of 

 this expedition. 1 



Upon reaching an elevation of 15,600 feet, 'The path,' re- 

 lates Humboldt, ' became every moment narrower and steeper. 

 The natives, with one exception, refused to accompany us 

 farther, and were deaf to entreaties and threatenings, main- 

 taining they suffered more than we did from the rarity of the 

 air. We were left alone Bonpland, our estimable friend 

 Carlos Montufar, a younger son of the Marques de Selvalegre, 

 a half-caste Indian from the neighbouring village of San Juan, 

 and myself. 



' By dint of great exertion and considerable patience, we 

 reached a greater height than we had dared to hope for, seeing 

 we had been almost constantly enveloped in mist. In many 

 places the ridge was not wider than from eight to ten inches ! 

 To our left was a precipice covered with snow, the surface of 

 which shone like glass from the effects of frost. This thin 

 sheet of ice was at ,an inclination of about 30. On the right 

 was a fearful abyss, from 800 to 1,000 feet deep, from the sides 

 of which projected huge masses of naked rock. We leant over 

 rather more to this side than the other, for it seemed less to be 

 dreaded than the precipice on our left, where the smooth sides 

 afforded no opportunity of checking a fall by catching hold 

 of projecting pieces of rock, and where the thin crust of ice 



1 A. von Humboldt, ' Ueber zwei Versuche, den Chimborazo zu bestei- 

 gen,' in Schumacher's ' Astronomisches Jahrbuch,' 1837, pp. 176-206. 

 Berghaus's ' Annalen/ 3rd series, vol. iii. pp. 199-216. A. von Humboldt's 

 < Kleinere Schriften,' vol. i. p. 133. 



