6?8 



NATURE 



[August 21, 19 13 



an eloquent warning- to all climbers against per- 

 sistence in face of such dangers. The Duke 

 waited vainlv for two hours in the hope that the 

 mist would lift, but at 3.30 p.m. was forced to 

 retreat. Fortune was against the attainment of 

 the highest peak — and in high mountain and polar 

 regions weather is fortune — but the " man-level " 

 was raised by 700 ft. 



It is almost impossible for the uninitiated to 

 realise the courage and fortitude called for by such 

 a feat. For seventeen days they were never below 

 18,000 ft., and of these nine were spent at or 



Fig. 3. — Empty ba 



of glacial lake. 



Himalaya. 



' Karakoram and ,We 



above 21,000 ft. None of the party suffered from 

 mountain sickness, and it is obvious that the 

 limit of man's endurance has not yet been reached. 

 The barometer stood at i2'35 in. : a further drop 

 of only about i'6 in. would be registered on the 

 top of Mount Everest. But the successful aspirants 

 will be very exceptional individuals — and of a con- 

 summate resolution 



Dr. de Filippi has produced much more than 

 an interesting and readable account of a memor- 

 able mountaineering expedition. Almost every 

 chapter gives him occasion for the discussion of 



NO. 2 2 86, VOL. 91] 



some branch of physical science. He appears to 

 be familiar with the whole .of the literature of 

 his region, and gives so many references to the 

 writings of his predecessors and other authorities 

 that his book has the further merit of being, in the 

 best sense, a work of reference. 



The author's suggestive discussion of the past 

 history of the Indus valley is of particular inter- 

 est, but cannot be dealt with in this brief notice. 

 Naturally glacial phenomena occupy most of his 

 attention, and he throws new light on several 

 vexed questions. The puzzling fact that the great- 

 est glaciers of this region lack terminal moraines 

 is ascribed to the immobility of their lower reaches. 

 In a very long glacier lying in a narrow trough 

 any increment shows itself by a rapid advance of 

 the snout. The glacier overshoots itself, and if the 

 increment is only temporary and the excess of 

 pressure abates, this overshot portion becomes, in 

 effect, merely a mass of stagnant, dead ice. Rick- 

 mers has reached, quite independently, a similar 

 conclusion in regard to some of the glaciers of 

 Russian Turkestan. Probably the few large 

 boulders which do reach the snout of these great 

 glaciers quickly sink below the surface of the 

 water-soaked plain of glacial debris which is such 

 a typical feature at the snouts of most of these 

 glaciers. 



The fact that the most careful barometric read- 

 ings consistently gave lower values than trigono- 

 metrical observations suggests a reference to 

 variations in gravity. It is by research on fTie 

 lines adopted by Burrard that we may eventually 

 look for an answer, and this problem is one of 

 the many which the author has placed on the 

 programme of his expedition to Baltistan and 

 Ladak for 1913— 14. 



The author agrees with Ujfalvy in ascribing to 

 the Baltis an Aryan rather than a Mongol ancestry. 

 It is pleasant to read of the excellent relations 

 existing between the Italians and their Balti 

 coolies, for whom the author has nothing but 

 praise and admiration, and to whom he frankly 

 acknowledges much of the success of the expedi- 

 tion was due. The geological results are specially 

 dealt with in an appendix. The most striking 

 discovery was that the main axis of the Gasher- 

 brum range consisted of sedimentary rocks, 

 notably conglomerates and marbles. These are 

 continued into the Teram Kangri range north of 

 the Siachen glacier, and quite probably still 

 further to the eastward. 



The narrative is enriched with numerous illus- 

 trations by Yittorio Sella, that prince of moun- 

 tain photographers ; it is impossible to praise 

 them too highly. In a separate case, uniform 

 with the narrative volume, are placed a very re- 

 markable series of large panoramas. These with 

 the maps combine with the letterpress to give 

 an extraordinarily vivid description of the region 

 dealt with, especially of the Baltoro glacier. A 

 useful innovation is that the indices are placed 

 in a loose fascicle along with the panoramas and 

 maps, which obviates the difficulty of reference 

 so distracting with a heavy volume. 





