How Private Burns Climbed Mt. Pinatubo. 31 



and underbrush. In about an hour and a half we ar- 

 rived on the west side of the peak, at the foot of the last 

 steep slope, which was well-nigh perpendicular. We were 

 now at an elevation of about six thousand feet. I had 

 with me a Sierra Club register-box, but I was so ex- 

 hausted that I felt that I could not make the last climb. 

 I gave the box to Schad, thinking that he would surely 

 reach the summit. He and Burns and I now started up 

 the last slope. After several attempts at different points, 

 I gave it up. So did Schad and the two Filipinos. In a 

 short time we heard shouts through the mist, and, the 

 fog lifting a little, we saw Burns standing on the sum- 

 mit. He urged us to come on, but we were done for. It 

 is hard to account for the feeling I had, but I can ex- 

 plain it only by attributing it to the effects of long ser- 

 vice in the Philippine Islands. 



If Burns had had the record-box he would have 

 placed it on the summit. The view from the foot of the 

 slope where I sat was partly obscured by a rolling mist, 

 but there was much that was beautiful. To the west lay 

 the China Sea, to the south were the peaks of the Zam- 

 bales Range, while to the east the shifting fog allowed 

 us now and then to see a town. Several times we caught 

 a good view of Mt. Arayat, thirty-five miles away, and it 

 looked like a little mound. Far to the east of Arayat lay 

 the eastern Coast Range of Luzon. 



Mt. Pinatubo reaches an altitude of 6,300 feet, and 

 is the highest peak between the mountains of Benguet, 

 in northern Luzon, and Mt. Banajao, in southern Lu- 

 zon. It rises in a sharp point, thus affording a fine 

 view. 



In half an hour Burns rejoined us, and, being now 



