RAriD DESCENT. 369 



when quite out of condition. We reached the toj) of 

 Elbruz at 10.40, and left a few minutes after 11 a.m. We 

 had some difficulty in reconciling- the appearance of the 

 toj) of the mountain, when seen from a distance, either on 

 the north or south, with its actual shape. From Poti, or 

 Patig'orsk, Elbruz appears to culminate in two peaks of 

 apparently equal height, separated by a considerable 

 hollow. The gaps between the summits we visited are 

 not more than 150 feet deep, and we were surprised at 

 their being so conspicuous from a distance. In walking 

 round the horseshoe ridge, we naturally looked out to see 

 if there was not some other summit, but none was visible ; 

 and on the west (where, if anywhere, it should have been 

 found), the slopes appeared to break down abruptly towards 

 the Karatchai, and there were no clouds dense enough to 

 have concealed any eminence nearly equalling in height 

 that upon which we stood. 



The ascent from our bivouac — one of 6,500 feet, or 

 800 feet more than Mont Blanc from the Grands Mulets — 

 had occupied 7| hours, with very few halts ; the return 

 was accomplished in four hours, and might have been done 

 much faster. The rocks were so easy, that but for the 

 trouble of coiling up, and then again getting out the rope, 

 we should have hm-ried down without it. Some little 

 care was necessary, on the part of those in the rear, to 

 avoid dislodging loose stones, and Moore got a nasty blow 

 on his finger from one, the effects of which lasted for 

 many weeks. At about one o'clock we sat down on the 

 spot where we had held our debate in the morning, and 

 made the first regular meal of the day. We now, too, 

 broke the icicles off our beards, which had been thus 

 fringed since 3 a.m. We observed from hence that 

 the eastern glacier of Elbruz flows from the same neve 

 as the ice-streams that descend to the sources of the 



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