300 



SCIENCE. 



Vol. XV. No. 380 



5tli, The apparent identification of the two peoples in the 

 Walam Olum itself in verses 42 and 43, Part V., where it 

 states that 



" Well-Praised was chief; he fought at the south. 

 He fought in the land of the Talega and Koweta." 



As this part of the record refers to a much later period 

 than that heretofore quoted, a date subsequent to the appear- 

 ance of the whites on the continent (verse 40, Part V.), 

 there can be no doubt that it alludes to the Tallegwi in their 

 southern home, to which, as slated in verse 59, Part IV., 

 they had been driven. This supposition is apparently con- 

 firmed by the fact that it connects with them the Koweta, or 

 Creeks. This, together with the statement that the fighting 

 was at the south, would seem to imply that they were then 

 in their mountain home or historic seat. It is probable, as 

 will be shown hereafter, that where it is stated, in verses 19 

 and 30, that 



' ' Look- About was chief ; he went to the Talega mountains ; 

 East- Villager was chief ; he was east of Talega, ' ' 



their position in the Kanawha valley is referred to, where 

 tlie evidence indicates that they halted for some time on their 

 wiy south. Cyrus Thomas. 



KILIMA-NJARO. 



De. Hans Meyer, at a meeting of the Royal Geographical 

 Society, London, on April 12, read a paper on his journey to the 

 summit of Kilima-Njaro. As reported in Nature, after giving 

 a short account of his expedition in 1887, and the discourage- 

 ments to which he had been subjected on two subsequent 

 efforts to carry out his programme. Dr. Meyer went on to say, 

 that, while the main portion of the caravan encamped in 

 Marangu, he ascended with Herr Purtscheller and eight picked 

 men through the primeval forest to a stream beyond, where he 

 had encamped in the year 1887, at an altitude of 9,200 feet. 

 There their large tent was pitched, straw huts were built for 

 the men, and firewood collected. Accompanied by four men, 

 they travelled for two more days up the broad, grassy, southern 

 slones of Kilima-Njaro to the fields of rapilli on the plateau 

 between Kibo and Mawenzi, and found there to the south-east 

 of Kibo, under the protection afforded by some blocks of lava, 

 a spot, at an altitude of 14,270 feet, well suited for the erec- 

 tion of their small tent. As soon as the instruments and 

 apparatus had been placed under cover, three of the men 

 returned to the camp on the edge of the forest; and only one, 

 a Pangani negro, Mwini Amani by name, remained to share 

 uncomplainingly their sixteen-days' sojourn on the cold and 

 barren heights. "With regard to their maintenance, it had been 

 arranged that every third day four men should come up with 

 provisions from the lower camp in Marangu to the central 

 station on the edge of the forest, and that two of the men 

 stationed there should thence convey the necessary food to tbem 

 in the upper camp, returning immediately afterwards to their 

 respective starting-places; and this, accordingly, was done. 

 Firewood was supplied by the roots of the low bushes still 

 growing there in a few localities, and their negro fetched a 

 daily supply of water from a spring rising below the camp. 

 In that manner they were enabled, as if from an Alpine Club 

 hut, to carry out a settled programme in the ascent and sur- 

 veving of the upper heights of Kilima-Njaro. The ice-crowned 

 Kibo towered up steeply another 5,000 feet to the west of 

 their camp, itself at an altitude of 14,300 feet. On Oct. 3 

 they undertook their first ascent. The previous day they had 

 resolved to make the first attempt, not in the direction chosen 

 by him in 1887, but up a large rib of lava which jutted out to 

 the south-east, and formed the southern boundary of the deep- 

 est of the eroded ravines on that side of the mountain. 



Their plan of operations, which they succeeded in carrying 



out, was to climb this lava-ridge to the snow-line, to begin from 

 its uppermost tongue the scramble over the mantle of ice, and 

 endeavor to reach by the shortest way the peak to the south of 

 the mountain, which appeared to be the highest point. It was 

 not till half -past seven o'clock that they reached the crown of 

 that rib of lava which had been their goal from the very first, 

 and, panting for breath, they began to pick their way over the 

 bowlders and debris covering the steep incline of the ridge. 

 Every ten minutes they had to pause for a few moments to 

 give their lungs and beating hearts a short breathing space; 

 for they had now for some time been above the height of Mont 

 Blanc, and the increasing rarefaction of the atmosphere was 

 making itself gradually felt. At an altitude of 17,220 feet 

 they rested for half an hour. Apparently they had attained an 

 elevation superior to the highest point of Mawenzi, which the 

 rays of the morning sun were painting a ruddy brown. Below 

 them, like so many mole-heaps, lay the hillocks rising from 

 the middle of the saddle. A few roseate cumulus-clouds floated 

 far over the plain, reflecting the reddish-brown laterite soil of 

 the steppe; the lowlands, however, were but dimly visible 

 through the haze of rising vapor. The ice-cap of Kibo was 

 gleaming above tlieir heads, appearing to be almost within 

 reach. Shortly before ten o'clock they stood at its base, at an 

 elevation of 18,270 feet above sea-level. At that point the 

 face of the ice did not ascend, hut almost immediately after- 

 wards it rose at an angle of thirty -five degrees: so that, with- 

 out ice-axes, it would have been absolutely impracticable. 



The work of cutting steps in the ice began about half-past 

 ten. Slowly they progressed by the aid of the alpine rope, the 

 brittle and slippery ice necessitating every precaution. They 

 made their way across the crevices of one of the glaciers that; 

 projected downwards into the valley which they had traversed 

 in the early morning, and took a rest under the shadow of an 

 extremely steep protuberance of the ice- wall at an altitude of 

 19,000 feet. On recommencing the ascent, the difficulty of 

 breathing became so pronounced that every fifty paces they had 

 to halt for a few seconds, bending their bodies forward, and 

 gasping for breath. The oxygen of the air amounted there, at 

 an elevation of 19,000 feet, to only 40 per cent, and the 

 humidity to 15 per cent, of what it was at sea-level. No 

 wonder that their lungs had such hard work to do. The surface 

 of the ice became increasingly coiToded. More and more it took 

 the form which Giissfeldf, speaking of Aconcagua in Chili, 

 called nieve penitente. Honeycombed to a depth of over six 

 feet in the form of rills, teeth, fissures, and pinnacles, the ice- 

 field presented the foot of the mountaineer with difficulties akin 

 to that of a "Karrenfeld." They frequently broke through as 

 far as their breasts, causing their strength to diminish with 

 alarming rapidity. And still the highest ridge of ice appeared 

 to be as distant as ever. At last, about two o'clock, after 

 eleven hours' climb, they drew near the summit of the ridge. A 

 few more hasty steps in the most eager anticipation, and then 

 the secret of Kibo lay unveiled before them. Taking in the 

 whole of Upper Kibo, the precipitous walls of a gigantic- 

 crater yawned beneath them. The first glance told that the 

 most lofty elevation of Kibo lay to their left, on the southern 

 brim of the crater, and consisted of three pinnacles of rock 

 rising a few feet above the southern slopes of the mantle of ice. 

 They first reached the summit on Oct, 6, after passing the night 

 below the limits of the ice, in a spot sheltered by overhanging, 

 rocks, at an altitude of 15,160 feet, — an elevation corresponding, 

 to that of the summit of Monte Eosa. Wrapped up in their 

 skin bags, they sustained with tolerable comfort even the 

 minimum temperature of 12° F,, experienced during the night, 

 and were enabled, about three o'clock on the morning of Oct, 6,, 

 to start with fresh energy on their difficult enterprise of climb- 

 ing the summit; and this time Njaro, the spirit of the ice- 

 crowned mountain, was gracious to them : they reached their 

 goal. At a quarter to nine they were already standing on the 

 upper edge of the crater, at the spot from which they had 

 retraced their steps on Oct, 3, Their further progress from 

 this point to the southern brim of the crater, although not easy, 

 did not present any extraordinary difficulty. An hour and a 



