Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1873-12-11

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The top vish - vila sheer. : Tho s;sh,
that mst nv eyea, tsere. ,hswsver. ves,
neatly made me etsggcr hack over the
edge Qairssy seated on the very h;sh,
est rcins vss css sfsiead Zirhsriah John.
800. picking lin tsssh. isisA hid 'bo~;e.
knife \ sesea you're half sa haur late.
strpneer. he- repserked. Ia n. cAsxrfal
tone cf voice While you usas sr,ek,
up one side ofzshis ere mouasain. 1 dsa
simiias lsP l,he ssherabst gscsss ycs'll
have 10 grease yoar heots bsster II VOC
vant fp9heat n~. at shak gsne.s With
thst ~ tpst ~ his hst, and. uitA los.
mneklse NV. Wished q good .uorsin~
Tbscc 1skates lister ks M Iost 10 v;rv
fsslss III Il - - 4 4 ~ ~ e sssss.ia s1ss
i need hardly tell yon tum Nc ;,:-is Tr.s
greatly crushed BY this melancholy
termination Of our 6rst attempt. aud Il
wss in sery low spirits indeed ,ha. We
made our way dovn the noun.ain and
returned, after some weeks travelling, 70
Cairo.
Il. vas while staying there that 4
g'"ri"us plan developed itself IN our
brsias. more ambitions and mnre daring
than anything tha, had yet bren con
ceivcd by man. We ,sere in search Of
mountains. Why not GO 10 the bi;hes, of
NIL n,ountsias. the 'Himalasasf and.
among these. why not attempt the high.
est Of them al!-Means Everest? The
highest mountain in the world! We be-
came perfectly fascinated by the idea. -
By day We talked Of nothing else. and at
high. Mount Everest haunted our dreams.
AT frst We feared that il would be
hopeless attempting it,, on account Of the
very rare state Of the atmosphere on
the top; but, on examining records OF
balloon accents. we found. to our reii.f.
that tiaeronauis had been to- e~en greater
heights without expcriescipe ANY gtcas
difficulty in breathing. = Before; cs,arsinx
Tor The ilima'ayas We sent 10, England
fer severn! things which We conceived
nceesssry:fcr oar ncw uudertakiuss Sp,onr
Others, for a small balloon. This las,
was owing to suggestion Of mine, as. I
Fancied II might. in some cases, prove
useful. | Also wrote for two Of the bes,
guidesist that time in Switzerland. =.
After a successful voyage and ,somc.
what unin'eresiing journey through the
plains Of Northern India. We at last
reached the base Of the great mountain
.hain containing inuHmerable vast forms.
beside which Mont Blanc would appear
IN insignificant hillock. Well, here be.
gan our difficulties; we were obliged to
ssse ,ssssi.s seet::.. ts:.rs 81 heesn na oaiisf~
be fnr removed from human habita,ion.
il was. Of course. necessary to bring
very large supply Of provisions, as well
d. tents, warm clothing. and the imple-
,ncn,. which re hoped TO make use o:
in the , ascant Having reached the
base Of Mount Everest itself. We found
it necessary to take a. sort Of rough sur
vey ourselves. and TO make number Of
excursions on the sides OF
the mountains. We established camp
about 900 feet above sea level. which
from the vas, height Of the plateau. was
scarcely above the base Of the mountain
itself We found. however, that the
natives could not stand greater
amount Of cold ahan that. Morel. Jack.
and [, used to make expeditions high up
on the sides Of the neighboripg moub-
,ains. armed with a good glass, and from
thence TO try TO see our best foute in at
lacking Everest. Till about half the dis
,ance to the top bad been passed We saw
that We should have nothing but vast
snow -felds. but then it would be necessa.
~ to pass along terrible arre,e-steep.
and BOUNDED by frirb'fal precirices. A.
ter a careful examination of this through
the glass. the Swiss guide pronounced il
to be very difficult. but not impossible -
Beyond this there seemed to be perpen-
dicular ice-wsIi; but we knew how de-
ccp,ive such things are when looked al In
the f.oe, especially at such a distance.
and trusted to being able to cut our way
up 1t
we waited till there seemed 10 be a
prospect of settled 6ne weather. and then.
early one morning. the, three of us started
from our camp. laden with provisions FOR
several days. blankets, aud my precious
balloon in little silk case. IN the high
e., spirits. We ascendcd steadily. ropcd.
of coarse. over miles of unbroken snow.
Occasionally one or the other of US would
i;sapncar down 4 hi','i-u ~'~--sse. but
the others soon pulled him ont. whcr
nigh, came on We scoopcd large hole ia
the snow. aud. wrapped in our blankets,
did not feel much the worse for the in
tense cold, For three days We were or
this riant snow slope. and. during TIL
psst II the s.cent. Experienced less diff
Guilty than We bad expecied- But % tn
fourth day we came to the paint sherf !
was necessary to take to the terrible arret
which ve hal observed previously viii
the glass Without exception. Il vas th
mos. terrific place have ever found my
self ON. For seven hours We had to nd
vance, step BY step. along iha, fearfu
knise-like edge. A perpendicular preci
rice. nearly four miles in sheer depth
yawncd ON cur right. and on our left wa
a suow slope SO steep that = single sli