May io, 1900^ 



NATURE 



41 



it was about an hour and a half. On reaching the snow I lay 

 down, and finally rolled down a great portion of the mountain 

 side. As I got lower my strength revived, and the nausea that 

 I had been suffering from so acutely disappeared, leaving me 

 with a splitting headache. Soon after five o'clock I reached our 

 tent. My headache was now so bad that it was with great 

 difficulty I could see at all. 



" Zurbriggen arrived at the tent about an hour and a half later. 

 He had succeeded in gaining the summit, and had planted an 

 ice-axe there ; but he was so weak and tired that he could 

 scarcely talk, and lay almost stupefied by fatigue. Though 

 naturally and justifiably elated by his triumph, at that moment 

 he did not seem to care what happened to him. At night, in 

 fact, all hope and ambition seemed to depart, after four days 

 spent at this height, and that night we got little sleep, every 

 one making extraordinary noises during his short snatches of 

 unconsciousness— struggling, panting, and choking for breath, 

 until at last obliged to wake up and moisten his throat with a 

 drop of water " (pp. S2-3). 



aflfected by the diminution in the atmospheric pressure which 

 they experienced, and they were sometimes rendered almost in- 

 capable. Upon the map, Tupungato is credited with a height 

 of 21,550 feet, but I have not been able to find in the volume 

 the data from which this elevation has been derived. If it has 

 no better foundation than readings of an aneroid barometer, it 

 is probable that the height has been considerably over-estimated. 

 The elevation assigned to Aconcagua is obtained from the rail- 

 way-levels as far as the terminus at Punta de las Vacas (7858 

 feet), carried on by levelling and triangulation up the Horcones 

 Valley, and may be considered authoritative. Notwithstanding 

 its great height, the mountain bears little snow in the middle 

 of the summer ; and in this respect the observations by Mr. 

 Miers which are quoted at the beginning of this article are sup- 

 ported. Mr. Fitz Gerald, indeed, says that " when Zurbriggen 

 made the ascent of Aconcagua, he went to the summit of the 

 mountain without placing his foot upon snow ; the side of the 

 mountain was bare to the top on the north-west slopes" 

 (p 34.). The apex of Tupungato was also bare rock. From 



Fig. 3.— Seracs of the Horcones Glacier. 



f Thus, Zurbriggen alone reached the highest point in the world 



which has hitherto been ascended ; and it is not the least curious 

 fact in this interesting journey that he should have done so, for 

 he was not the most nimble of the party, and in appearance and 

 gait is not the one who might have been expected to be the most 

 successful. That he did succeed was proved on the following 

 13th of February, when Mr. Vines and Lanti again ascended the 

 mountain, and found an ice-axe on the summit and a substantial 

 pyramid of stones which he had built. The cairn might have 

 been erected by any one, but the axe could have been put there 

 only by himself. 



The position assigned to Aconcagua on the map which ac- 

 companies Mr. Fitz Gerald's volume is long. 69° 59' west of 

 Greenwich, 32° 39' south latitude, and Tupungato is placed 

 about 57 miles to its south. This latter mountain was ascended 

 by Mr. Vines and Zurbriggen on April 12, 1897, but only after 

 three attempts which ended in failure. Upon it, as on Acon- 

 cagua, all those who got to considerable elevations were strongly 



the absence of great snow fields and large glaciers in this 

 elevated region, it would appear that the annual snow-fall there 

 is inconsiderable. 



Mr. Fitz Gerald's book will give abundant food for reflection 

 to those who think that the loftiest mountains in the world 

 can be scaled, and scaled easily. He confirms the observations 

 of others, that the greatest heights are reached painfully and 

 laboriously, and that there is a pretty constant diminution in 

 pace the higher one ascends. The illustrations in the volume 

 are reproductions of photographs, and out of the forty-five 

 views of scenery which are given, thirty-three are by Mr. 

 Lightbody. The appendix contains notices of the rocks, by 

 Prof. T. G. Bonney ; of the reptiles, scorpions and spiders, 

 by Messrs. Boulenger and Pocock ; and of the plants, by Mr. 

 Burkill. The collections seem meagre, and nothing except a 

 few rock specimens appears to have been brought from the 

 greatest heights. 



Edward Whymper. 



^'O- 1593. VOL. 62J 



