CHAP. II. BOUSSINGAULT'S ATTEMPTS. 29 



from eight to ten inches. To our left a precipice covered with 

 snow. - . . On the right was a fearful abyss. . . . The rock 

 became more friable and the ascent increasingly difficult and 

 dangerous. We were obliged to use both hands and feet. We 

 advanced all the more slowly, as every place that seemed in- 

 secure had first to be tested.'^ These are some of the expressions 

 used in regard to places which were passed over in the earlier 

 part of the day. Higher up, '^'one after another all began to feel 

 indisposed, and experienced a feeling of nausea accompanied by 

 giddiness. . . . Blood exuded from the lips and gums.''^ At last 

 they were stopped by a ravine '^some 400 feet deep and 60 feet 

 wide, which presented an insurmountable barrier. We could see 

 clearly that the ridge on which we stood continued in the same 

 direction on the other side of the ravine. . . . There was no 

 means of getting round the cleft. . . . The softness of the snowy 

 mass prohibited such an attempt." This was the turning-point. 

 Its height was determined by observation of mercurial barometer 

 at 19,286 feet. They remained there but a short time, and when 

 about half-way down encountered a violent hail-storm, which a 

 little later was succeeded by snow. The fiakes fell so thickly 

 that the ridge was covered several inches deep. He says that 

 they left their highest point a little after 1 p.m., and at a few 

 minutes after 2 reached the place where they had left their mules 

 (at 15,600 feet), that is to say, he claims to have descended 

 3686 feet in one hour!^ 



Joseph-Dieudonne Boussingault was in his 29th year when he 

 attempted to ascend Chimborazo in 1831, and had been living 

 for several years in elevated regions in the neighbourhood of 

 the Equator. He was accompanied by an American (Col. Hall) 

 and a Negro. On Dec. 14, they went to " the farm of Chim- 

 bor; 



' See Appendix G at the end of this volume, where tlie relation from Karl 

 Bruhns is given in full. 



2 This, I conjecture, is the place now called Chuquipoquio. 



