49s THE ELBRUZ EXPEDITIOX OF 1829. 



Cossack, had preceded his friends, got as far as the top of a ridge 

 of rocks in the direction of the summit byl p.m., and then turned 

 lacli, as time ran short and the snow was soft. 



While his companions were engaged in assaulting the moun- 

 tain. General Emmanuel, seated before his tent in the valley, 

 watched their progress through a telescope. He suddenly ob- 

 served a single man far in advance of the rest. We are rather 

 superfluously informed that the features of the solitary climber 

 were indistinguishable, but the General could tell from his dress 

 that he was a Tcherkess. The figure advanced steadily towards 

 a scarped crag, which appeared from the camp to be the summit, 

 walked round its base, and then vanished behind the mists which 

 cut off all further view of the mountain. 



What he had thus seen satisfied the General that the object of 

 his expedition was fulfilled, and that the highest summit of Elbruz 

 had been trodden by human feet. He ordered the news to be 

 proclaimed in camp, and gave notice that the successful climber 

 should receive the promised reward of 400 roubles as soon as he 

 appeared to claim it. Few of my readers will be surprised to 

 hear that in the com-se of the evening a Tcherkess named Eallar 

 presented himself and received the money. 



If, as the loosely-worded narrative seems to show, neither 

 Mons. Lenz nor any of the German savants saw or heard anything 

 of their more fortunate rival until they returned to the camp, 

 Killar's claim to the honour of the first ascent rests entirely on 

 General Emmanuel's account of what he saw through his tele- 

 scope, under circumstances which render his testimony, to say the 

 least, very questionable. It is difficult even for practised eyes 

 to distinguish a solitary man on a snowslope broken by crags 

 10,000 feet in vertical height above the observer, and in such cases 

 men often see what they both wish and look for. Moreover, in 

 the present instance. General Emmanuel's credit was involved in 

 the success of an expedition which had been organised with much 

 care and expense, and he had every motive to make a discovery 

 which would justify him in asserting officially that the top of 

 Elbruz had been gained by one of the men under his command. 

 Even Russians treat the official statements of their countrymen 



