258 TlMEHRt. 
when white men are about it— the mountain is enveloped 
from base to summit in densest mist, and that hardly 
ever is it clear in all its parts from huge masses of drift- 
ing vapour. 
Yet, on the 18th of December last year, without any 
difficulty greater than might be overcome by a very 
ordinary degree of endurance, my companion and I, 
followed by seven Indians, reached the summit ; and 
reached it — at first sight curiously enough — from the 
very point from which almost every one of the few 
previous attempts had been made, and abandoned as 
hopelessly impracticable. Nor can we claim merit for 
the success w r hich, after being denied to others, came to 
us. The merit is due to this Association and to the 
other Societies which by their liberality enabled us to 
spend sufficient time on the mountain — seeing our way — 
before we finally ascended. Previous travellers had 
reached the mountain, but had almost immediately been 
driven back by want of provisions before they had 
had time to see their way. Many, in all probability, 
never saw the path unobscured by mists, which led us to 
the summit. We were enabled — by you — to spend some 
three weeks on the mountain, watching and noting day 
by day, as occasion and the floating mists allowed, each 
detail of the mountain, and so determining the course, 
which, with full knowledge gathered, we afterward 
followed with ease. 
I must pause here to dispel a notion which seems to 
be not uncommonly held about Roraima — the notion 
that this mountain, so remarkable in form, is solitary, 
unique, and peculiar. Rather is Roraima the most 
famous, slightly the most lofty, and perhaps really the 
