The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1875-06-03


ton the public good, L the II. DIS
we're to acknowledge the fun importance
Of the offices to be performed by nurses,
and seek to find, instead of automatic
servitors, intelligent, educated ccadju'
tors who deserve and attain to a share
CT the professional honors.
The Highest Mountain in the World
For many years past Mount Everest,
IN that portion of the great Himalaya
range which occupies the western part
of the great kingdom of Nepaul, imme
diately north of India, has been regarded
as the highest noun tain in the world.
It is known to the Nepaulese as GauIi-
sankar, but the English named it Ever
est, in honor of a distinguished officer
of the British Indian Typographical sur
vev. Its snow capped summit is 29, COZ
feet, or nearly FIVE miles and q half,
above the Level of the sea. OF course
no one has ever ascehded to this height,
but its altitude, Ike that of the lofty
peaks of the Himalaya, was ascertained
By triaDgulation and until the present
time it has not been supposed that any
higher land existed on the earth.
If the news be true, however, which
has lately come to us fIom the more
distant east, there is loftier peak than
Mount Everest in the great island of
Papua or New Guinea. This vast re-
gion, extensive enough to form six
states as large as New York, is as yet
almost wholly unexplored, except along
its coasts. Lying close to the equator,
where the Indian ocean and the Pacific
meet, it is the home of the cassowary
and the bird of paradise, a country
grand in its scenery, rich in its vegeta
ton, and Astounding in curious and
beautiful forms of animal life-the veri-
table wonderland of the globe. An
attempt to explore the unknown interior
of the island was made from Torres
Strait, which separates it from Austria
Tia, by Capt. J. a. Lawson in the year
1872 and if we may believe his pub
lished narrative of the journey, which
has Just appeared in London, he adj
vanced several hundred miles inland,
and about midway between the north
and south coasts discovered mountain
80, 783 feet high, which he named Mount
Hercules.
The height of this mountain-over six
miles-is not the only remarkable thing
about it. Its apparent elevation is but
little less than its actual elevation for,
instead of rising from a lofty table land
like the plateau of central Asia, it stands
in a comparatively low plain about 2, 600
feet above the ocean, and this gives
clear rise of more than 30, 900 feet above
the surrounding country. The traveller
standing at its base could look up and
see its snowy peak towering 30, 600 feet
skyWard from where he stood. Under
such circumstances the altitude of a
mountain is appreciated.
Capt. Lawson tells us that he under
took the ascent, formidable as it ap-
peared. He did not reach the top, but
we believe the achievement which he
relates is unparalleled in the records of
mountaineering. Accompanied by one
servant, he set out from the foot at
o'clock in the morning. They passed
through dense forests in the first 9, 900
feet of perpendicular progress, found
the limit of tree growth at II, 900 feet,
and by 9 o'clock had reached a point
Ii, 600 feet above the sea level-almost
as high as the famous Matterhorn. A
thousand feet higher was the snow line,
and they all began to suffer from the
cold. AS they pressed on droWsiness
began to overcome them. Nothing
was visible but snow of the most daz-
zling wilderness. Every peak and crag
was covered with it, and it hung over
the edges of the cliffs in long fieecy
masses. There eyes were affected by
the glare, and they felt themselves
growing more and more lethargic.
AT length blood began to flow from
our noses and ears" says Capt. Law
son, " and my head ached in a distract
ing manner. I saw our only chance of
preserving life was to retreat without
lay; for we were in a pitiful plight.
Our lips and gums, and the skin of our
hands and faces were cracked and bleed
ing, and our eyes were bloodshot and
swollen to an alarming extent. The
Thermometer had sunk to twenty-five
degrees below the freezing point, and
the air was so rsrified that we were
gasping rather than breathing. Our
slaves fell from our grasp, and we could
not pick them up sgain, so benumbed
we're arms and hands. It was now one
o'clock, and the greatest elevation we
had attained was %, 314 feet"
They then turned back, descended to
the limit of the snow in three hours,
and arrived at their camp at the base of
the mountain about half past seven in
the evening. Thus, in fifteen hours
| and half, they had assembled an abso-
lutte height of 5000 feet, to an eleva
ton which, we believe ia greater than
any ever before attained by man upon
the surface of the earth, although bal
lOonists have occasionally gone higher
These are wonderful stories, and the
reader may desire to know whether we
altogether trust in their authenticity
and accuracy. The fresh, spirited, and
interesting narrative in which we have
found them is published by one of the
most respectable firms in London, and
is put forth as a genuine book of trav-
els. The authors account of the fora.
| the fauna, and the inhabitants of New
Guinea, contains much that is marvel
GUS, and that certainly has been hither-
to unknown and unsupported. Some of
his statements, also, are dificult to
reconcile with our previously acquired
knowledge concerning the island. I'm
der these circumstances, his narrative is
/ likely to be regarded much as we should
view the testimony of single, strange
witness TO a startling fact we do not
disbelieve it, but we should like to hear
some corroborative evidence. This Will
| probably be afforded by subsequent ex.
ploratiOns.-N Y. Sun
THE COMING GRAssHoPPER.-In some
portions of Kansas and Missouri the
/ inevitable grasshopper has appeared II
vast numbers. This year he comes, &C.
cording to report, reduced IN size, even
&c the diE,i:12I; % sioa4s, t5i inc fiea
and ranging from that to the size of g
common house-hy- His number does
not seem to have been diminished, but,
] "a. the contrary ha IL az aolid T. Ahe