NA rURE 



[May 3, 1900 



achieved his object without mishap, and that he and his 

 little band of fellow-countrymen had the patriotic satis- 

 faction of planting the Italian flag on a summit assuredly 

 never before trodden by the foot of man, was due to the 

 careful forethought with which all the preliminary 

 arrangements of the expedition were planned. 



A graphic account of the ascent was communicated by 

 one of the party, Dr. Filippo de Filippi, to the English 

 Alpine Club a few months afterwards, and was published 

 in the Alpine Journal for May 1898. As chronicler of 

 the expedition, Dr. Filippi has now expanded his story in 

 the handsome and portly volume before us, in which he 

 deals at full length with the conditions of the climb, and 

 describes in glowing language the wild grandeur of the 

 scenery. The beautiful photogravure plates and the 

 illustrations in the letterpress, with which the book is so 

 bountifully provided, are reproduced from photographs 

 taken, for the most part, by Vittorio Sella, who was also 

 of the party, and these are especially valuable as a faithful 

 and permanent record of the physical characters of this 

 seldom-visited region, and particularly of the untraversed 

 wilderness of snow and mountain peaks to the northward 

 of St. Elias. Among many that are excellent, there is 

 one plate (p. 136), showing the snowy eastern spurs of 

 St. Elias delicately fluted by innumerable avalanches, 

 which seems to us peculiarly impressive. 



Of the ten chapters of the book, only five deal with 

 the actual ascent ; the first three, and also the final 

 chapter, are devoted to the outward and homeward 

 journeys ; the fourth to the previous history of the 

 mountain ; and appendices, covering seventy-four 

 pages, to the equipment and scientific results of the 

 expedition. 



As Russell had foretold, the mountaineering difficulties 

 encountered during the climb were slight, and the ad- 

 venture resolved itself into a long, arduous struggle up- 

 ward for thirty days, usually in wretched weather, over 

 interminable snow-fields and glaciers. The character of 

 the cUmb was pithily given by one of the guides, in 

 answer to inquiries after his return : — " C'est comme le 

 Breithorn, seulement beaucoup plus haut." The ex- 

 pedition, consisting of the Prince with four compatriots, 

 five Italian guides, and ten Americans who acted as 

 porters, landed safely near Point Manby, at the foot of 

 the moraine of the Malaspina ice-field, on the evening of 

 June 23, and on July i started forward across the ice, all 

 subsequent encampments being upon snow. Traversing 

 the Malaspina in three days, partly in dense fog, the 

 party struck upward along the eastern flank of its great 

 tributary the Seward Glacier, which was afterwards 

 crossed, and the Agassiz Glacier gained, at an altitude 

 of only 3480 feet, by Russell's previous route through the 

 Dome Pass, on July 13. Thence the explorers forced 

 their way slowly up the Newton Glacier, through laby- 

 rinths of crevasses and ice-falls, for thirteen days, of which 

 only three were fine. Fortunately the fog and snow 

 which fell to their lot were unaccompanied by either wind 

 or electrical disturbance; nor did the party suffer from cold, 

 the temperature ranging steadily between 25° and 35° F. 

 Their progress along this glacier averaged only about 

 I mile 500 yards daily. At this stage they received news 

 that the expedition led by Prof. Bryant, which had set 

 out a few days ahead of them, had been compelled to 

 NO. 1592, VOL. 62] 



return to the coast owing to the illness of one of its 

 members, after having reached the foot of the Newton 

 Glacier. 



The Italians were greatly impressed with the vivid 

 colouring of the neve and ice even in the thickest weather, 

 the tints ranging from brilliant turquoise and azure to the 

 deepest blue, without the greenish tinge familiar to them 

 in the Alps. This and the weird atmospheric effects in 

 these mountain solitudes are eloquently described by Dr. 

 Filippi. 



Having left the American porters behind, and estab- 

 lished their advance camp on the col at the head of the 

 Newton valley, at an altitude of 12,287 feet, the success 

 of the mountaineers depended solely upon the weather. 

 Fortunately this proved more favourable than at the 

 lower elevations, and they were able, without delay, to 

 attack the summit. It was absolutely calm and clear on 

 July 31, when after a heavy climb of 5800 feet from 

 their last bivouac, during which the majority of the 

 party were more or less affected by mountain-sickness, 

 the Prince and his comrades reached the crest just before 

 noon. The thermometer registered a temperature of 

 io*5° F., and the barometer stood at 15 inches 15 lines. 

 The height of the mountain as determined by the 

 barometer was 18,092 feet, which is in remarkably close 

 agreement with Russell's figures, 18,100 feet, obtained by 

 triangulation. 



From the summit they saw the majestic mass of Mount 

 Logan to the north-eastward, sinking north-westward 

 into a very intricate lower chain, while to the westward 

 was a chaos of low ridges, neves and glaciers, overtopped 

 at a distance of some hundred miles or so by three great 

 snowy giants as yet unexplored, which profTer substantial 

 work for the future. 



Then came the descent and the return to the coast, 

 which was safely reached in ten days. Some of the lower 

 ridges overlooking the Malaspina Glacier, where they had 

 previously found snow, were now knee-deep in blossom- 

 ing plants. 



The appendices to the volume are, from a scientific 

 standpoint, not particularly important. The first de- 

 scribes the equipment of the expedition in detail, and! 

 should be of service to explorers of similar regions. The 

 excellent plan was adopted of packing the supplies in tin 

 boxes, each containing sufficient material of every kind 

 for twenty-four hours. The second appendix consists of 

 meteorological tables, giving the simultaneous observ- 

 ations made daily between June 25 and August 3 by the 

 expedition, and by the Rev. C. J. Hendricksen, of the 

 Swedish Mission at Yakutat, at the foot of the mountain. 

 The third deals with the health of the party. The 

 absence of colds, rheumatism, or other ill results from 

 the trying conditions of the journey is made the subject 

 of comment ; and the symptoms which effected most of 

 the explorers during the final stages of the ascent are 

 fully discussed, but it is thought that these might be in 

 part attributed to excitement and want of sleep. The 

 only case of real illness was that of one of the American 

 porters, who, after having passed a night, during the 

 return, on ground covered by vegetation, on the Hitchcock 

 Hills, was seized with an attack of malaria while cross- 

 ing the Malaspina Glacier. The terrible plague of 

 mosquitoes on the coastal strip of forest is especially 



