CHAP. XII. RATE OF ASCENT. 235 



4424 feet, or 13-85 feet per minute ( = 831 feet per hour)/ 

 Some may say this is not a fast rate ; or others may entertain 

 a contrary opinion, and argue that the ascent must have been 

 very easy to have permitted us to travel so quickly. It was no 

 part of my aim to make or to break ^ records ' ; and, personally, 

 I have no objection to the adoption of either of these opinions. 



Whether fast or slow, I remarked that both of the Carrels 

 commenced to give indications of fatigue when we were about 

 18,000 feet high. Jean-Antoine was a man who always wished 

 to be in front, and if he yielded up the lead voluntarily it was 

 a sure sign that he was tired. In ascending the last twelve 

 hundred feet, although the axes were little used and we seldom 

 sank more than a foot in the snow, the men changed places, 

 and took the lead alternately, perhaps a dozen times. Louis 

 had no desire to retain it, — indeed, I think it may be said that 

 neither of them could have held it for any length of time. 

 Although these changes scarcely occupied a minute apiece, I 

 found the little stoppages very convenient. Instead of hindering, 

 they probably assisted progress ; and it should be added, to the 

 credit of the cousins, that this ascent was made without a fault. 

 There was no retracing of steps, and doing work twice over. 

 Due to this, our ascending rate, on that day, was better than 

 the average. 



We had now paid some attention to the first, second, third 

 and fourth of the Great Andes of the Equator. There was no 

 likelihood of finding their supremacy disputed ; for my prede- 

 cessors agreed that these mountains towered head and shoulders 

 above all the rest, and they were in general agreement as to the 

 order in which the others followed. According to La Condamine, 

 and Reiss and Stiibel, Altar, Sangai and Illiniza were next in 

 rank. 



1 The descending rate is not known, on account of the detour. We left the 

 summit at 11.35 a.m. ; arrived on Pointe Jarrin at 2.40 p.m. ; stopped thirty 

 minutes, and then went down in another half-hour to the camp. 



