162 ARAEAT. 



Before long the snow took the form of hard neve, and it 

 was necessary to cut steps. Francois was by this time so ex- 

 hausted that he could do no more; Tucker, however, pushed 

 on alone, and by cutting about 1,000 steps, succeeded in 

 reaching a point a little under 16,000 feet.* Such work, at 

 a height equal to that of Mont Blanc, cannot be continued 

 for ever, without long training ; his breath began to fail, 

 and his head to throb painfully, so that he was obliged 

 to rest every twenty or thirty steps. The tremendous stair- 

 case required to reach the summit was not to be accom- 

 'plished single-handed, and at 12.10 p.m. — after nearly four 

 hours' solitary work, the top looking as far ofi" as ever, and 

 clouds collecting rapidly round the mountain — Tucker 

 turned to descend. Having rejoined rran9ois, they returned 

 quickly together down the tracks made in the ascent, 

 avoiding the rocky arete, by slithering down the snow- 

 slope on its left, which had been hard-frozen in the 

 morning. 



We plunged gloomily through soft snow, and over the 

 tiresome rough lava-crags, and, despite the mists, found 

 it easy to follow our old track to the sj)ot where we had 

 left the Kurds. They now shouldered with ease the 

 burdens under which they had groaned and staggered the 

 evening before, and led off at a quick pace for the huts, 

 where we arrived about 6 p.m., having halted often on the 

 way. The last part of the walk was in rain, Ararat 

 having succeeded in his daily task of collecting a shower in 

 otherwise fine weather. We regained the huts at 6.30 p.m., 

 having been 18^ hours out. 



We slept in the Kurd tent — I badly, but Tucker, as he 

 deserved, soundly enough. These tents have black roofs, 

 like those of the Arabs, from which they are otherwise 

 very different. Stakes three feet high are driven into the 



* We estimated it afterwards, carefully, as between 1,000 and 800 feet below 

 the top. 



