Keb. 1827. BAROMETRICAL OBSERVATIONS. 4d 
their exposure to the prevailing winds, rose no higher than 
twelve or fourteen inches from the ground, with widely-spread- 
ing branches, so closely interwoven, as to form a platform that 
bore our weight in walking. We next traversed an extent of 
table-land,* much intersected by ponds of water. Mr. Tarn 
shot two plovers of a new species (Charadrius rubecola, Zool. 
Jour. vol. iv. p. 96), and a snipe. We then ascended three or 
four hundred feet, and crossed a deep ravine. The bottom of 
the ravine was clay-slate in a decomposing state, but the sur- 
face of the ground was strewed with pebbles of granite. 
Another plain, with many ponds, succeeded ; the intervening 
spaces being covered with tufts of chamitis, and studded here 
and there with small clusters of dwarf beech; but the ground 
was so hard, and firm, that we proceeded rapidly, without 
fatigue, until we attained the height of 1,800 feet, when the 
ascent became very steep. Near the summit lay a large mass 
of snow, rapidly melting away. We reached the highest pin- 
nacle of the mount at seven o’clock (having left our resting- 
place at four), and immediately set up the instruments. I was 
obliged to avail myself of Mr. Tarn’s assistance to hold the 
barometer, whilst two of my boat’s crew held the legs of the 
theodolite-stand, for the wind was blowing very strongly, and 
the edge of a precipice was close to us, perpendicular for 
many hundred feet, and thence downwards so steep, that any 
body going over would fall at least a thousand feet. The 
theodolite-stand was unavoidably placed within a very few 
inches of the edge, and I took a round of angles, suffer- 
ing, however, intense pain from the piercing coldness of the 
wind, which, heated as we were by the ascent, was much 
felt, though the temperature was not lower than 39°. I was 
lightly clothed, and should have fared badly, had not one of 
the party lent me his Flushing jacket, while he descended under 
the lee of the mountain-top to make a fire. The barometer 
stood at 26, 618, the temperature of the air being 40°, and of 
* On this table-land the barometer stood at 27,767. Temperature of 
the air 46°,5, and of the mercury 47°,5, which gave the elevation 1,327 
feet, 
