CHAP. V. ASCENT OF CORAZON. 109 



Lorenzo led us to a place a long way to the south of the 

 summit, and then evidently came to the end of his knowledge. 

 On his ' ascent ' he had gone as far as one can go with the hands 

 in the pockets, and had stopped when it was necessary to take 

 them out/ We continued in the same direction to see what 

 the western side was like, and presently put on the rope. Our 

 guide was the first to be tied up, and, though he said little, his 

 face expressed a good deal. Possibly he supposed that he had 

 been inveigled to this lonely spot to be sacrificed on the cairn 

 of stones put together by Jean-Antoine, which bore a suspicious 

 resemblance to an altar. 



The western side of the highest part of Corazon, like the 

 eastern side, is formed of a great cliff. Snow gullies run up 

 into it, and one of these, towards the south end of the ridge, 

 seemed to promise easy access to the summit. AYe had only 

 progressed a few yards on this couloir when the clatter and buzz 

 of falling stones was heard, which flew down at a tremendous 

 pace, quite invisible as they passed by. We retired under cover 

 of some rocks to read the barometer,^ and then returned to the 

 south end of the peak, skirted the base of the eastern cliff, 

 worked round to the north side, and ascended by the ridge that 

 descends towards Atacatzo.^ 



^ This man, however, was a good fellow ; cheerful and willing-, and an excellent 

 pedestrian. 



'•' The original unreduced reading at 8.45 a.m. was 17-383 inches, temp. 

 37° Faht. 



2 Lorenzo remained below, trying to dry his trousers. We started from 

 Machachi at midnight on Feb. 1, reached the summit at noon on Feb. 2, left it 

 at 3.10 p.m., and, rejoining our guide, continued towards Machachi until we struck 

 the route taken on Jan. 27 ; and then, as it was getting dusk and the ground was 

 not familiar to our man, thought it better to bear away to the south, and return 

 by the route which was taken in the morning. We got back to Machachi at 

 7.45 p.m. 



The route on this day was unnecessarily circuitous, and is not given on the 

 map. The ascent of Corazon can be made most easily by taking the line we fol- 

 lowed on Jan, 27, as far as we went, and completing it in the same way as upon 

 Feb. 2. The track on the map combines portions of the routes of these two days. 



