161 



de la Condamine in his Historical Introduction* 

 " began our journey in very fine weather. The 

 persons whom we had left in our tents soon lost 

 sight of us among the clouds, which appeared 

 to us only a mist, from the time we entered them. 

 A cold and piercing wind covered us in a short 

 time with icicles. In several places we were 

 forced to scale the rock, by climbing with our 

 hands and feet. At length we reached the sum- 

 mit; and on looking at each other, we perceived 

 all one side of our clothes, one of our eyebrows, 

 and half our beards, stuck full of small frozen 

 points, exhibiting a singular spectacle. The 

 mercury stood only at fifteen inches ten lines. 

 No one had hitherto seen the barometer so low 

 in the open air, and probably no one had as- 

 cended to a greater height : we were 2470 toises 

 above the level of the sea, and we can answer 

 within four or five toises for the exactness of this 

 calculation. 



As we are at present acquainted with the 

 influence of the temperature and the decrement 

 of caloric on calculations made by means of the 

 barometer, we may be permitted to doubt of the 

 exactness of a measurement, in which the error is 

 presumed not to amount to ^ of the total 

 height, though the calculation was made by the 



* V°jage to the Equator, page 88. This excursion took 

 place io July, 1738. 



VOL. XIV. M 



