Miscellaneous. 159 



" About three o'clock, a fearful tempest of rain, hail, and wind 

 assailed us under our rock. It continued throughout a part of 

 the night with a fury which seemed as if it could never be allayed- 

 We were literally lying in water. On the morrow, at day break? 

 our eyes rested everywhere on a vast field of hail. 



" Certain indications of another tempest made us abandon the 

 idea of trying again the ascent of Chimborazo, which we hence- 

 forth regarded as quite impracticable. We made all haste to 

 break up our camp and make for Guaranda, where we arrived 

 about three o'clock, travelling through a cold and dense fog, which 

 prevented us for that day admiring one of the most beautiful views 

 in the world. 



" When we calculated our observations, we were not a little 

 surprised to find that we had reached the summit of Chimborazo 

 without being aware of it. According to personal researches, 

 made at first in the Archipelago of Hawaii, and afterwards re- 

 peated among the Cordilleras of the equator, the co-efficient o* 

 a degree in the centigrade thermometer, reckoning between the 

 point to which the mercury rises when the instrument is immers- 

 ed in boiling water, and the boiling point of water at the level of 

 the sea, is found to be 290'8 ; that is to say, each degree below 

 100 indicates a difference of level equal to 290*8 meters, or about 

 29 meters for the tenth of a degree, hence the formula 



•r=(100-B) (290-8) 

 which gives us 6543 meters for the absolute vertical height we 

 had reached on Chimborazo. This figure places us quite on the 

 summit, the altitude of which, above the sea level, according to 

 Humboldt's tri angulations, is 6544 metres. But whatever degree 

 of confidence may be conceded to our calculations, the unques- 

 tionable fact resulting from our ascent is, that the summit of 

 Chimborazo is accessible." 



Artesian Wells in Sahara, (Athen.,No. 1562). — The Moniteur 

 Algerien brings an interesting report on the newly-bored Artesian 

 wells in the Sahara Desert, in the province of Coustantine. The 

 first well was bored in the Oasis of Oued-Rir, near Tamerna, by a 

 detachment of the Foreign Legion,, conducted by the engineer, M. 

 Jus. The works were begun in May, 1856, and, on the 19th of 

 June, a quantity of water of 4,010 litres per minute, and of a 

 temperature of 21° Reaumur, rushed forth from the bowels of the 

 earth. The joy of the natives was unbounded; the news of the 

 event spread towards the South with unexampled rapidity. People 



