70 TRAVELS AMONGST THE GREAT ANDES, chap. hi. 



mercury fell to 14*100 inches/ with a temperature of 21° Faht., 

 and lower it would not go. The two aneroids (D and E) i^ecid 

 13*050 and 12*900 incites respectively. By the time the barometer 

 was in its case again^ it was twenty minutes past five. Planting 

 our pole with its flag of serge on the very apex of the dome, we 

 turned to depart, enveloped in driving clouds which entirely con- 

 cealed the surrounding country. 



Scarcely an hour and a quarter of daylight remained, and we 

 fled across the plateau. There is much difference between ascend- 

 ing and descending soft snow, and in the trough or groove which 

 had already been made we moved down with comparative facility. 

 Still it took nearly an hour to extricate ourselves, and we then 

 ran, — ran for our lives, for our arrival at camp that night de- 

 pended upon passing ''the breach ^^ before darkness set in. We 

 just gained it as daylight was vanishing, and night fell before it 

 was left behind ; a night so dark that we could neither see our 

 feet nor tell, except by touch, whether we were on rock or snow. 

 Then we caught sight of the camp fire, twelve hundred feet below, 

 and heard the shouts of the disconsolate Perring, who was left 

 behind as camp-keeper, and stumbled blindly down the ridge, 

 gettiiig to the tent soon after 9 p.m., having been out nearly 

 sixteen hours, and on foot the whole time. 



The reduction in pressure we experienced upon Jan. 4 

 amounted to nearly two inches (16*000 to 14*100 inches), — a 

 considerably larger diminution than had occurred while mount- 

 ing from the first to the second camp on Dec. 27 (17*900 to 

 16*500 inches). Yet on the former day we were entirely free 

 from the afflictions of the latter one. There was neither 

 feverishness, headache, gasping, nor the nausea, vomitings, and 

 hemorrhages of which others have spoken. The only effect of 

 which I was conscious, or could trace in my companions, was 

 lassitude or want of vivacity. Our rate on this day was 

 ^ This is the original reading, uncorrected for temperature. 



