156 Miscellaneous. 



" Thirty years later, on the 16th of December, 1831, M. Bous- 

 smgault, after a long' and skilful examination of the Cordillera of 

 the equator, endeavoured to accomplish trie ascent in which his 

 predecessor had failed. He reached the enormous height of 6004 

 metres, that is to say, 95 metres higher than the others ; but he 

 was arrested by rocks as they had been, and could not get beyond 

 this limit, which was then the most elevated point ever attained 

 by man on mountains. 



" The accounts of these famous travellers had deprived us of all 

 hope of reaching a height so considerable; but, after having ob- 

 served the snowy and rounded summit of Chimborazo from Guaya- 

 quil, we could not help thinking that it was accessible from some 

 point or other. M. Brenchlev and myself were thug led to f-rm 

 the design of attempting a third ascent. 



"On the 21st of July, 1856, as we crossed the plateau of the 

 Andes on our way to Quito, we halted at the foot of this stupe > 

 dous mountain. We employed two days in studying its outlines 

 from a distance, with the view of discovering any peculiar places 

 on the surface of its gigantic dome which might afford us a pas- 

 sage. 



" The route followed by MM. Humboldt and Boussingault, 

 seemed to us at first to be greatly the most easy and desirable on 

 account of its regular declivity ; but the barrier of rocks, which 

 we readily distinguished, presented no outlet to the eye. When 

 we had made nearly the entire circuit of this mighty mountain, 

 and without success, we resumed our journey towards Quito, re- 

 serving the execution of our plan till we should be bettor fortified 

 against the rigorous climate of the higher Cordilleras. 



" After visiting Pichincha, Cotopaxi, and other giants of the 

 Andes, we again found ourselves, on the 2d of November, ~at the 

 foot of Chimborazo. We pitched our camp at a height of 4700 

 metres, a little below the line of perpetual snow, in a valley be- 

 tween Arenal and the point where the Riobamba route separates 

 from that of Quito. We intended to spend the following day in 

 collecting plants and hunting deer and birds, endeavoring, at the 

 same time, to determine beforehand the places which might afford 

 us the most easy access to the summit. 



" We took up our quarters under a huge inclined rock, which 

 afforded us sufficient protection against the northwest wind, but 

 gave us no shelter in the event of rain. Eain had fallen in the 

 afternoon. The weather cleared at night-fall, the sky became 



