Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1873-11-13

same side of the mountain that he had
assembled by.
II need hardly tell you that we felt
greatly crushed by this melancholy term
ination of our first attempt, and ii was in
very low spirits indeed that we made our
way down the mountain and returned,
after some weeks travelling, to Cairo.
at was while staying there that glori-
Gus plan developed itself in our brains,
more ambitious and more daring than
anything that had yet been conceived by
man. We were in search of mountains,
why not go to the highest of all noun
tains, the Himalayas? and, amongst these,
why not attempt the highest of them all
Mount Everest? The highest noun
tain in the world We became perfectly
fascinated by the idea. BY day we talked
of nothing else, and at night Mount Ever.
est haunted our dreams
4" At first, we feared 1t would be hope
less attempting it, on account of the very
rare state of the atmosphere on the top;
but, on examining records of balloon as
cents, we found, to our relief, that aero
nauts had been to even greater heights
without experiencing any great difficulty
| in breathing. Before starting for the
liimalayas, we sent to England for several
! things which we conceived necessary for
our new undertaking; amongst others,
for small balloon. This last was owing
to suggestion of mine, as tancied il
might, in some cases, prove useful. |
also wrote to Grindelwad for two OF the
best guides ut that time in Switzerland
Cachat and Morel offering them such
liberal terms that felt sure they would
agree to come. OF these two, knew
Cachat personally, and had more than
once had occasion to see his skill at ice
work, so you may imagine my annoyance
when | got a letter from him, saying that
he could not go, as he was already en-
gagged for distant expedition by another
monsieur; he thought he was an American
monsieur who had engaged him. This
was unfortunate, but Morel was able to
come, and duly met us at Al
| eXandria. After a successful voy-
! age and a somewhat uninterest-
ing journey through the plains of
Northern India, we at last reached the
base of the great mountain chain contain
ing innumerabe vast forms, beside which
Mont Blanc would appear an insignificant
hillock, Well, here began or difficulties;
we were Obliged to organize a large body
OF natives to act as pOrters. 1t being quite
uncertain how many weeks, or even
months, we might De far removed from
human habitation, il was, of course, nee
essary to bring very large supply of
provisions, as well as tents, warm cloth
ing, and the implements which we hoped
to make use of in the ascent. The best
maps of that region which we had been
able to procure in Bombay were so utterly
inaccurate that it was impossible to de
pend on them in the least Having reach
ed the base of Mount Everest itself, we
found it necessary to take sort of rough
survey ourselves, and to make number
of preliminary excursions on the side of
the mountain We established camp
about 10000 feet above sea level, which,
from the vast height of the plateau, was
scarcely above the base of the mountain
itself We found, however, that the ma
tives could not stand greater amount of
cold than that Morel, Jack and used to
make expeditions high up on the sides of
the neighboring mountains armed with
good glass, and from thence try to see
our best route in attacking Everest. Till
about half the distance to the top had
been passed we saw that we should have
nothing but vast snow fields, but then it
would be necessaryto pass along "A terrible
arrete-steep, and bounded by frightful
precipices, After a careful examination
of this through the glass, the Swiss guide
pronounced it to be very difficult, but not
impossible. Beyond this there seemed to
be a perpendicular ice wall; but we knew
how deceptive such things are when
looked at in the face, especially at such a
distance, and trusted to our being able to-
cut our way up to it. We waited till there
seemed to be prospect of settled fine
weather, and then, early one morning, the
three OF US started from our camp laden
with provisions for several days, blankets,
| and my precious balloon in a little silk
case. In the highest spirits, we assembled
steadily, roped, of course, over miles of
unbroken snow. Occasionally one or
other of us would disappear down a hid
den crevasse, but the others soon pulled
him out. When night came on we scoop
ed large hole in the snow, and, wrapped
in our blankets, did not feel much the
worse for the intense cold For three days
we were on this giant snow slope, and,
during this part of the ascent experienced
less difficulty than we had expected. But
on the fourth day we came to the point
where 1t was necessary to take to the ter
ribe arrete which we had observed pre-
viously with the glass. Without excep.
ton, it was the most terrific place | have
ever found myself on. For seven hours
we had to advance, step by step, along
that fearful kniielike edge. A perpeG.
dicular precfpce, nearly four miles in
sheer depth, yawncd on our right, and on |
our left was "A snow slope so steep that a
single slip must of necessity prove fatal. |
Fortunately, none of the party did slip; |
TO the end of the arrete, and found |
ourselves on comparatively smooth |
plateau of frozen snow. We pushed |
on rapidly, till we came to an ice
wall, directly barring our way, and so
perpendicular that we could not entertain |
The thought of cutting our way up it. |
Under this we halted for the night though |