CHAP. II r. THE HEIGHT OF CHIMBORAZO. 71 



deplorable. Nearly sixteen hours were occupied in ascending 

 and descending 3200 feet. There was a marked diminution in 

 pace the higher we ascended, and although this, to some extent, 

 was owing to the nature of the snow (the softness of which 

 according to the Carrels was unprecedented in their experience) it 

 seemed probable that it was not entirely due to it ; and I proposed 

 to test this on another occasion by sweeping round and avoiding 

 the hollow part of the plateau, where the soft snow alone occurred. 



The eyes of my mountaineers were inflamed.^ Louis did not 

 shew to advantage on this day, and I thought it noteworthy 

 that he, the youngest, biggest, and not the least powerful of the 

 three, manifested more signs of fatigue than men who were 

 fourteen and twenty-six years older. Whilst descending, he 

 took the lead, and walked irregularly — sometimes blundering 

 or staggering forwards, and then suddenly checking his pace 

 abruptly. Jean-Antoine, on the contrary, walked well, and 

 descended with a steady, uniform stride (though encumbered 

 with his twelve-pound baby), in admirable style for a man of 

 fifty-two. There was little difference in our condition on the 

 morning of the 5th. Louis mentioned that his toes were frost- 

 bitten,^ and so were the tips of my own fingers, through turning 

 the milled heads of the cistern and vernier screws of the 

 barometer with ungloved hands. 



The reading of the mercurial barometer upon the summit 

 was half an inch higher than I expected ; and, from the rough 

 computation which I made on the spot, upon the assumption 

 that the simultaneous height of the barometer at Guayaquil was 

 a little below 30 inches and that the temperature of the air 

 there was 75° Faht., the height of Chimborazo came out 20,608 



1 On the 4th of Jan. 1 used a knitted woollen head-piece (with a linen mask 

 as well during part of the time), and wore neutral-tint spectacles throughout 

 the day. The Carrels incautiously uncovered their eyes occasionally, and suffered 

 accordingly. 



^ He was indebted to this through going without gaiters. The snow on the 

 summit was wet as well as soft, and he got his feet wet. 



