NA TURE 



\_Jan. 29, 1885 



manjaro Committee of the British Association and the Royal 

 Society, he found himself on arriving at Zanzibar without any 

 trained collectors to assist him. Giving a lively and picturesque 

 narrative of his adventures during his stay with Mandara, chief 

 of Moshi, a person of remarkable character, who rules a small 

 tract on the lower slopes of Kilimanjaro at an altitude of about 

 6000 feet, and is at war with all the surrounding potentates, 

 Mr. Johnston told how, after some difficulties, he began the 

 ascent of the mountain with forty carriers and some guides pro- 

 vided by another chief, Maranga. They crossed the cultivated 

 zone, which ended at about 5500 feet in that part, entered a 

 healthy district with pleasant grassy knolls and many streams of 

 running water, and encamped beside a lovely fern-choked brook 

 at 6500 feet, the whole ascent being very gradual. The follow- 

 ing day they passed through stunted forest, not unlike an English 

 woodland, where the trees, however, were hung with unfamiliar 

 ferns and creepers, and where deliciously scented parasitic 

 begonias trailed their pink flower-bells from branch to branch. 

 The dracrena, which is cultivated by the Wa-Chagga to form 

 hedges, here grew wild. Tree-ferns were abundant and hand- 

 some. Above 7000 feet the orchilla moss draped the forest trees 

 in long gray festoons. Tracks of elephents were very numerous. 

 The other noticeable inhabitants of the forest were dark blue 

 touracoes and tree-hyraxes. Wart-hogs were occasionally met 

 with up to 8000 feet. At 9.000 feet they encamped for the night 

 by a small spring of water in the midst of a grand bit of forest, 

 not of that stunted character which marked the lower woods. 

 He caught a chameleon and many beetles here, and also shot 

 touracoes and pigeons. The next day they walked several miles 

 eastward to find a good place for settlement close to water, and 

 not too high up, so that his shivering followers might not 

 suffer unreasonably from cold. He selected an admirable spot 

 on a grassy knoll rising above the river of Kilema, which 

 takes its source near the base of Kimawenzi. The altitude 

 of this spot was nearly 10,000 feet. Having seen every 

 one carefully installed and protected from the — to them — 

 severe cold (for the thermometer descended every night to one 

 or two degrees below freezing-point), he transferred his own 

 quarters to a higher elevation, and began industriously to collect. 

 His first excursion was to the base of Kimawenzi. The terrible 

 hurricane of wind, however, that raged round this jagged series 

 of lava peaks, prevented him from continuing the ascent, although 

 he doubted if it were possible for any one to reach the summit, 

 owing to the want of foothold. The snow varied very much in 

 quantity on Kimawenzi. Sometimes the whole peak would be 

 c .vered down to the parent ridge, with only the precipitous 

 rocks peeping blackly through the mantle of white. At other 

 periods the snow would be reduced to an insignificant patch, 

 and the reddish sand which filled the crevices and glissades 

 between the lava rocks would be left exposed to view. This change 

 from an almost complete snow-cap to nearly no snow at all 

 might be effected in twelve hours. His great object, however, 

 was to reach the snows, and, if possible, the summit of Kibo. 

 To do this it would be necessary to sleep on the way. He had 

 therefore to induce a few followers to accompany him to carry 

 impedimenta. Starting at 9, he walked upwards with few 

 stoppages until 1.30. At first they crossed grassy undulating 

 hillocks, the road being fairly easy. Then they entered a 

 heathy tract, scorched and burnt with recent bush-fires ; but 

 higher up, where the blaze had not reached, the vegetation was 

 fairly abundant and green. Small pink gladioli studded the 

 ground in numbers. At an altitude of nearly 13,000 feet bees 

 and wasps were still to be seen, and bright little sun birds darted 

 from bush to bush, gleaning their repast of honey. A little 

 higher they found warm springs, the thermometer showing the 

 temperature of the trickling mud to be 91° F. Mounting high 

 above the rivulet the scenery became much harsher. Vegetation 

 only grew in dwarfed patches as they passed the altitude of 

 13,000 feet, and the ground was covered with boulders, more or 

 less big, apparently lying in utter confusion, and without any 

 definite direction. '1 hey were not very difficult to climb over, 

 and even seemed to act as irregular stone steps upwards. In 

 their interstices heaths of the size of large shrubs grew with a 

 certain luxuriance. About 13,700 feet he saw the last resident 

 bird, a kind of stonechat apparently. It went in little cheery 

 flocks, and showed such absence of fear that he had to walk 

 away from it before shooting to avoid shattering his specimen. 

 After this, with the exception of an occasional great high- 

 soaring kite or great-billed raven, he saw no other bird. On 

 reaching a height a little above 14,000 feet he stopped again 



to boil the thermometer and refresh himself with a little lunch. 

 Throughout this ascent, which was easy to climb, he suffered 

 absolutely nothing from want of breath or mountain sickness, 

 although his three Zanzibari followers lagged behind, panting 

 and exhausted, r.nd complained much of their lungs and head. 

 " Mounting up a few hundred feet higher than the last stopping- 

 place," Mr. Johnston said, "and rounding an unsuspected and 

 deep ravine, I arrived close to the base of a small peak which 

 had been a continual and useful point to aim at during the whole 

 journey from my station. I was now on the central connecting 

 ridge of Kilimanjaro, and could see a little on both sides, though 

 the misty state of the atmosphere prevented my getting any good 

 view of the country. This ridge, which from below looks so 

 simple and straight, is in reality dotted with several small monti- 

 cules and cut up into many minor ridges, the general direction 

 of which is, on the southern side, from north-east to south-west. 

 To the eastward I could see the greater part of Kimawenzi 

 rising grandly with its jagged peaks and smooth glissades of 

 golden sand. Westward, I still looked vainly in the piled up 

 clouds, for the monarch of the chain still remained obstinately 

 hidden, and I was at a loss as how to best approach his awful 

 crown of snow. At length, and it was so sudden and so fleeting 

 that I had no time to fully take in the majesty of the snowy 

 dome of Kibo, the clouds parted, and I looked on a blaze of 

 snow so blinding white under the brief flicker of sunlight that I 

 could see little detail. Since sunrise that morning I had caught 

 no glimpse of Kibo, and now it was suddenly presented to me 

 with unusual and startling nearness. But before I could get out 

 my sketch-book and sharpen my chalk pencil, the clouds had 

 once more hidden everything, indeed , had inclosed me in a 

 kind of London fog, very depressing in character, for the de- 

 crease in light was rather alarming to one who felt himself alone 

 and cut off at a point nearly as high as the summit of Mont 

 Blanc. However, knowing now the direction of my goal, I rose 

 from the clammy stones, and, clutching up my sketch-book with 

 benumbed hands, began once more to ascend westwards. Seeing 

 but a few yards in front of me, choked with mist, I made but 

 slow progress ; nevertheless, I continually mounted along a 

 gently-sloping hummocky ridge, where the spaces in between 

 the masses of rock were filled with fine yellowish sand. There 

 were also fragments of stone strewn about, and some of these I 

 put into my knapsack. The slabs of rock were so slippery with 

 the drizzling mist that I very often nearly lost my footing, and 

 I thought with a shudder what a sprained ankle would mean 

 here. However, though reflection told me it would be better to 

 return to my followers and recommence the climb to-morrow, I 

 still struggled on with stupid persistency, and at length, after a 

 rather steeper ascent than usual up the now smoother and 

 sharper ridge, I suddenly encountered snow lying at my very 

 feet, and nearly plunged headlong into a great rift filled with 

 snow that here seemed to cut across the ridge and interrupt it. 

 The dense mist cleared a little in a partial manner, and I then 

 saw to my left the black rock sloping gently to an awful gulf of 

 snow so vast and deep that its limits were concealed by fog. 

 Above me a line of snow was just discernable, and altogether 

 the prospect was such a gloomy one, with its all-surrounding cur- 

 tain of sombre cloud and its uninhabited wastes of snow and rock, 

 that my heart sank within me at my loneliness. Nevertheless, I 

 thought, ' only a little further, and perhaps I may ascend above the 

 clouds and stand gazing down into the crater of Kilimanjaro 

 from its snowy rim.' So, turning momentarily northwards, I 

 roui ded the rift of snow, and once more dragged myself, now 

 breathless and panting, and with aching limbs, along the slippery 

 ridge of bare rock which went ever mounting upwards. I con- 

 tinued this for nearly an hour, and then dropped exhausted on 

 the ground, overcome with what I suppose was an ordinary at- 

 tack of mountain sickness. I was miserably cold, the driving 

 mist having wetted me to the skin. Yet the temperature recorded 

 here was above freezing-point, being 35 F. I boiled my ther- 

 mometer, and the agreeable warmth of the spirit-lamp put life 

 into my benumbed hands. The mercury rose to iS3°'S. This 

 observation when properly computed, and with the correction 

 added for the temperature of the intermediate air, gives a height 

 of 16,315 feet as the highest point I attained on Kilimanjaro. 

 I thus came within a little more than 2000 feet of the summit, 

 which is usually estimated to reach an altitude of 18,800 feet." 

 He made other ascents during the month he was in high 

 altitudes. The footprints and other traces of buffaloes were 

 seen up to t4,ooo feet, but he never caught sight of one 

 of the creatures, nor did he see any of the big antelope, 



