DIFFICULT ASCETTT. 
419 
i'rom the Puerta de la Silla the steepness of the ascent 
increases, and we were obliged to incline our bodies con- 
siderably forwards as we advanced. The slope is often from 
SO® to 32°. # We felt the want of cramp-irons, or sticks 
shod with iron. Short grass covered the rocks of gneiss, 
and it was equally impossible to hold by the grass, or to 
form steps as we might have done in softer ground. This 
ascent, which was attended with more fatigue than danger, 
discouraged those who accompanied us from the town, and 
who were unaccustomed to climb mountains. We lost a 
great deal of time in waiting for them, and we did not 
resolve to proceed alone till we saw them descending the 
mountain instead of climbing up it. The weather was be- 
coming cloudy; the mist already issued in the form of 
smoke, and in slender and perpendicular streaks, from a 
small humid wood which bordered the region of alpine 
savannahs above us. It seemed as if a lire had burst forth 
at once on several points of the forest. These streaks of 
vapour gradually accumulated together, and rising above 
the ground, were carried along by the morning breeze, and 
glided like a light cloud over the rounded summit of the 
mountain. 
M. Bonpland and I foresaw from these infallible signs, 
that we should soon be covered by a thick fog ; and lest our 
guides should take advantage of this circumstance and leave 
us, we obliged those who carried the most necessary instru- 
ments to precede us. We continued climbing the slopes 
which lead towards the ravine of Chacaito. The familiar 
loquacity of the Creole blacks formed a striking contrast 
with the taciturn gravity of the Indians, who had constantly 
accompanied us in the missions of Caripe. The negroes 
amused themselves by laughing at the persons who had 
been in such haste to abandon an expedition so long in pre- 
paration ; above all, they did not spare a young Capuchin 
monk, a professor of mathematics, who never ceased to 
boast of the superior physical strength and courage pos- 
* Since my experiments on slopes, mentioned at p. 94, I hare dis- 
covered in the Figure de la Terre of Bouguer, a passage, which shows 
that this astronomer, whose opinions are of such weight, considered also 
36® as the inclination of a slope quite inaccessible, if the nature of the 
ground did not admit of forming steps with the foot. 
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