500 



THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



Some of the names of the victors recur 

 several times in the annals of conquest. 

 We have named the pioneers of 1868, 

 members of the Alpine Club. Moore, of 

 that party, returned with F. C. Grove 

 and others of the club in 1874, and scaled 

 with them the western, slightly higher, 

 of the twin domes of Elbruz (18,470), 

 like its fellow an easy mountain. Dechy, 

 a Hungarian alpinist and expert photog- 

 rapher, came first in 1884, then in the 

 three following years, devoting his efforts 

 rather to the glaciers and passes than to 

 the high summits, and procuring the re- 

 markable views that adorn his recently 

 published volumes.* Dent came again 

 with Donkin in 1886 and climbed Gestola 

 (15,932). They both returned in 1888 

 with Fox added to their party. A fortu- 

 nate indisposition detained Dent, while 

 Fox and Donkin went on to climb 

 Dongosorun (14,547), and then to at- 

 tack the stronghold of Koshtantau. Here 

 they and their guide perished; just how 

 we shall never know. To solve the sad 

 mystery Dent returned a year later with 

 Freshfield, H. Wooley, the present presi- 

 dent of the Alpine Club, and others, and 

 found high up on the grand peak the last 

 bivouac of their lost associates. Wooley 

 succeeded in scaling the fateful summit. 

 It was in 1889 and i8go that Signor Sella 

 made his visits, combining, like Dechy, 

 photography with exploration, yet as- 

 cending more peaks, and securing that 

 superb collection of views later used in 

 collaboration with Mr Freshfield.t 



Doubtless the most impressive of all 

 the Caucasian giants in its aspiring 

 grandeur is the double-towered Ushba, 

 so stationed on the watershed of two con- 

 tinents that one of its peaks is in Europe, 

 the other in Asia. The former was 

 climbed in 1888 by Mr Cockin (A. C), 

 who that same year vanquished Shkara 

 and Janga, and later, in 1890, Adai- 

 Khokh and two other high peaks, in 1893 

 yet others, but in 1895 was foiled in his 

 attempt on the southern tower of Ushba. 

 This was secured in 1903, after a repulse 



* Kaukasus, 3 vols., Berlin, D. Riemer, 1905. 

 t The Exploration of the Caucasus, 2 vols. 

 Arnold, London & New York, 1896. 



that nearly cost him his life, by Herr A. 

 Schulze with others/ 1 ' 



Germany was also represented as early 

 as 189 1 by Herren Purtscheller and 

 Merzbacher, of whom the former had 

 climbed Kilimanjaro in 1887, and the 

 latter was to distinguish himself as a 

 pioneer in the Tian-Shan Mountains. 



NEW ZEALAND ALPS 



If the keen interest that had attended 

 the continued revelations from this semi- 

 adjacent region of the Caucasus was be- 

 ginning to wane at the end of the 

 eighties, new matter came pouring in 

 from various quarters to whet the appe- 

 tite for alpine grandeurs. The Rev. W. S. 

 Green (A. C.) had visited New Zea- 

 land in i882f and ascended Mount Cook 

 (Aorangi), which attains an altitude of 

 12,349 feet. A pioneer there at the an- 

 tipodes, stimulating the ambition of the 

 young men of that new country and ex- 

 citing other emulation nearer home, he 

 shortly directed his steps to the freshly 

 opened mountain region of British Co- 

 lumbia, and here, too, became the fore- 

 runner of a new generation of alpinists, 

 bringing out the first mountaineering 

 book for this new Switzerland.}; 



A New Zealand Alpine Club was 

 formed in 1891, and not only its own 

 periodical but also the pages of the 

 Alpine Journal have since brought out 

 numerous articles descriptive of the noble 

 scenery and stirring adventures among 

 these Southern Alps. Of its members 

 one of the most active has been Mr G. E. 

 Mannering, author of "With Axe and 

 Rope in the New Zealand Alps" (Long- 

 mans, 1891). Doubtless the most ex- 

 citing of the works § that deal with this 

 region is that of Mr E. A. Fitzgerald 

 (destined later to be heard from in an- 



* For a most spirited description, see article 

 by W. R. Rickmers, ''Personally conducted: 

 Suanetia in 1903," Alpine Journal, Nos. 166) 

 167. 



tThe High Alps of New Zealand (Macmil- 

 lan, 1883). 



% Among the Selkirk Glaciers (Macmillan, 

 1890) . 



§ Climbs in the New Zealand Alps (Scrib- 

 ners, 1896). 



