DISCOVERY 



293 



look seemed promising. Messrs. Mallory, Somervell. 

 Crawford, and one porter were leading, all roped. 

 Farther down, on three ropes, there followed fourteen 

 porters laden with food and the oxygen apparatus . The 

 climbers were about half-way 

 up the north col, at a relatively 

 gentle slope, when suddenly the 

 snow began to slip. The leading 

 partv was carried down about 

 150 ft. before the slide was 

 checked. All four e.xtricated 

 themselves unhurt. But disas- 

 ter had befallen the porters 

 lower down, who were caught 

 n the main slip. Two rope- 

 loads had been swept over a 

 6o-ft. ice cliff into a crevasse, 

 on the edge of which the third 

 rope-load had providentially 

 stopped. There was little hope 

 of any rescue, but two men were 



dug out alive and one was found 

 unhurt, though dazed, on the 

 surface. After some hours six 

 bodies were recovered, but a 

 seventh could not be found. 

 This disaster ended the third 

 and last attempt to reach the 

 summit of Mount Everest. Gen. 

 Bruce pays a high tribute to 

 the capacity and cheerfulness 

 of the porters. "It is terrible 

 to think that no fewer than 

 seven splendid porters lost their 

 lives in this tragedy. . . . The 

 work done by the porters was 

 prodigious and unparalleled." 

 The glacier camps were evacu- 

 ated without further delay, and 

 the whole expedition returned 

 to India. 



The effort which an attempt 

 on the summit of Mount Everest 

 demands is very formidable, 

 far more formidable than the 

 relatively brief telegraphic des- 

 patches in the Press have sug- 

 gested. Yet it should be noted 

 that Gen. Bruce and the other 

 members of the expedition have 



expressed the belief that experience has given them 

 greater hopes of succeeding than many of them had 

 before. The work of climbing at high altitudes must 

 be reserved for young men who must at the same time 

 have knowledge of snow conditions. Experience has 



shown that nights can be passed at 25,500 ft. without 

 oxygen, and an altitude of 26,800 ft. was reached with- 

 out its use. This discovery was unexpected, since the 

 experiments in a pressure chamber in England had 



MAP OF MOUNT EVEREST AND THE SURROUNDING DISTRICT. 

 Reproduced by kind permission of the Royal Gco^taphicat Society. 



indicated 23,000 ft. as the altitude above which oxygen 

 would always be required. It was also found that even 

 at great heights climbers who are deprived of the use 

 of oxygen, whether by accident or exhaustion of supply, 

 do not suffer anv great harm. Mr. Finch, however. 



