BOUSSINOAULT'S ATTEMPTS TO ASCEND CHUIBORAZO. 435 



il etait prolonge ; nous pensames d'abord que c'etait un bramido, iin rugisse- 

 ment souterrain. Des images obsciirs ne tarderent pas a entourer la base de 

 la montagne ; ils s'elevaient vers nous avec lenteur : nous n'avions pas de 

 temps a perdre, car il fallait passer les mauvais pas avant d'etre envahis, 

 autrement nous eussions couru les plus grands dangers, line chute abon- 

 dante de neige, ou une gelee qui eut rendu le chemin glissant, suffisait pour 

 enipecher notre retour, et nous n'avions aucune provision pour sejourner sur 

 le glacier. 



'* La descente fut penible. Apres nous etre abaisses de 300^400 metres, 

 nous penetrames dans les nuages, en y entrant par la partie superieure ; un 

 pen plus bas, il commenga a tomber du gresil, qui refroidit considerablement 

 Fair, et au moment oil nous retrouvames I'lndien qui gardait nos mulets, le 

 nuage langa ^r nous une grele assez grosse pour nous faire eprouver une sensa- 

 tion douloureuse, lorsqu'elle nous atteignait sur les mains ou dans la figure. 



''A quatre heures trois quarts j'ouvris mon barometre au Pedron del 

 Almuerzo. ... A mesure que nous descendions, une pluie glaciale se 

 melait a la grele. La nuit nous surprit en chemin ; il etait huit heures 

 quand nous entrames dans la metairie du Chiraborazo." — Annales de Chimie 

 et de Physique, par MM. Gay-Lussac et Arago, tome Iviii, 2me serie, pp. 156- 

 175. Paris, 1835. 



I.— DECLARATION OF FRANCISCO J. CAMPANA. 



Upon our return to Guayaquil I caused Campana to make a declaration 

 before the British Consul touching what he knew relating to the second 

 ascent of Chimborazo. A translation of this document is appended. 



[Translation.] 



"I, Javier Campana of Quito, hereby declare that upon July 3, 1880, I 

 accompanied Mr. Edward Whymper to the very highest point of the summit 

 of Chimborazo. We were also accompanied by Jean-Antoine Carrel and by 

 Louis Carrel (Mr. Whymper's two Italian mountaineers), and by David 

 Beltran of Machachi. 



" Mr. Whymper placed his tent on July 2, 1880, on the north-west side 

 of Chimborazo, at a height, so he tells me, of about 16,000 feet, and he pro- 

 vided for the use of myself and of David the things which were necessary for 

 an ascent, namely, good strong boots with large nails, warm gloves, and 

 spectacles to protect the eyes against the glare of the snow, and ice-axes to 

 help us along. 



"We started from the tent at 5'15 on the morning of July 3, 1880, and 

 at once commenced to ascend towards the summit. The way at first was 

 over loose stones, but after we had ascended for about 1000 feet we came to 

 snow, and the remainder of the ascent was entirely over snow, with the ex- 

 ception of one or two little places where rocks came through the snow. We 

 stopped to eat on one of these little patches of rock at 8.35 a.m., and 

 after Mr. Whymper had examined his mercurial barometer he encouraged 

 us to proceed by telling us that we had already got more than half-way up 

 from the tent. From this place we saw the sea. 



