The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1875-06-10
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 strange kingdom of Nepaul, immedi-
ately north of India, has been regarded
as the highest mountain in the world.
1t is known to the Nepaulese as Gauris-
ankar, but the English named it Everest,
in honor of a distinguished officer in the
British Indian typographical survey.
Its snow-capped summit is %, 002 feet, or
nearly five miles and o half above the
level of the sea. Of course no one has
ever assembled it to this height, but its
altitude, like that of the other lofty peaks
of the Himalaya, was ascertained by
triangulation ; 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 from the more dis
tant East, there is q 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 UNEMPLOYED, except along its
coasts. Lying close to the equator,
where the Indian ocean and the Pacific
meet, it is the home of the casso-
wary 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 YER
liable wonderland of the globe. An at
tempt to explore the unknown interior of
the island was made from Torres Strait,
| rrbfoh oaroro4ao - frnpo Australia NV
Capt. j. A. Lawson, in the year 1872 !;
and if we may believe his published
nara tive of the journey, which has just
appeared in London, he advanced several
hundred miles inland, and about midway
between the north and south coasts dis
covered a mountain 80, 1888 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, only about.
two thousand feet above the ocean, and
this. gives a clear rise of more than
10000 feet above the surrounding
country. The traveller standing at its
base could look up and see its snowy
peak towering 80, 900 feet skyward from
where he stood. Under such circum-
stances 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 re-
lates is unparalleled in the records of
mountaineering. Accompanied by one
servant, he set out from the foot at four
o'clock in the morning. They passed
through dense forests in the first two
thousand feet of perpendicular progress,
found the limit of tree growth at eleven
thousand feet, and by nine o'clock had
reached q point fourteen thousand feet
above the sea-level-almost as high as
the famous Matterhorn. A thousand
feet higher was the snow line. As they
pressed on, drowsiness began to over
come them. "Nothing was visible but
snow of the most dazzling wilderness.
Every peak and crag was covered with
it, and it hung over the edges of the
cliffs in long feecy masses" Their eyes
were affected by the glare, and they felt
themselves growing more and more leth-
argic.
cat length blood began to flow from
our noses and ears" says Capt. Lawson,
"and my head ached in a d~istracting
manner. I saw that our only chance OF
preserving life was to retreat without de,
lay, for we were in a pitiful plight. Ou1
lips and gums and the skin of our hands
and faces were cracked and bleeding 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 sc
rarefied that we were gasping rather thar
breathing. Our slaves fell from om
grasp, and we could not pick them VI
again, so benumbed were our arms anC
: hands. 1t was now one o'clock, and the
greatest elevation we had attained wa!
Is, 314 feet"
They then turned back, descended K
the limit of the snow in three hours, anG
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 absolute
height of $4,000 feet, to an elevation
which we believe is greater than We be
fore attained by man upon the surfac,
of the earth, although b~alloonists hav'
occasionally gone higher.-New YorI
Sun.