Feb. 



BAROMETRICAL OBSERVATIONS. 



41 



their exposure to the prevailing winds, rose no higher than 

 twelve or fourteen inches from the ground, with widely-spread- 

 ing branches, so closely interwoven, as to form a platform that 

 bore our weight in walking. We next traversed an extent of 

 table-land,* much intersected by ponds of water. Mr. Tarn 

 shot two plovers of a new species {Charadrius rubecola, Zool. 

 Jour. vol. iv. p. 96), and a snipe. We then ascended three or 

 four hundred feet, and crossed a deep ravine. The bottom of 

 the ravine was clay-slate in a decomposing state, but the sur- 

 face of the ground was strewed with pebbles of granite. 

 Another plain, with many ponds, succeeded ; the intervening 

 spaces being covered with tufts of chamitis, and studded here 

 and there with small clusters of dwarf beech ; but the ground 

 was so hard, and firm, that we proceeded rapidly, without 

 fatigue, until we attained the height of 1,800 feet, when the 

 ascent became very steep. Near the summit lay a large mass 

 of snow, rapidly melting away. We reached the highest pin- 

 nacle of the mount at seven o'clock (having left our resting- 

 place at four), and immediately set up the instruments. I was 

 obliged to avail myself of Mr. Tarn's assistance to hold the 

 barometer, whilst two of my boat's crew held the legs of the 

 theodolite-stand, for the wind was blowing very strongly, and 

 the edge of a precipice was close to us, perpendicular for 

 many hundred feet, and thence downwards so steep, that any 

 body going over would fall at least a thousand feet. The 

 theodolite-stand was unavoidably placed within a very few 

 inches of the edge, and I took a round of angles, suffer- 

 ing, however, intense pain from the piercing coldness of the 

 wind, which, heated as we were by the ascent, was much 

 felt, though the temperature was not lower than 39°. I was 

 lightly clothed, and should have fared badly, had not one of 

 the party lent me his Flushing jacket, while he descended under 

 the lee of the mountain-top to make a fire. The barometer 

 stood at 26, 618, the temperature of the air being 40°, and of 



* On this table-land the barometer stood at 27,7^7. Temperature of 

 the air 46°, 5, and of the mercury 47°,5, which gave the elevation 1 ,327 

 feet. 



