The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1886-05-21

my left the black rock sloping gently
to an awful gulf of snow, so vast and
deep that its limits were concealed by
fog. Above me a line of snow was
just discernible, and altogether the
prospect was such a gloomy one, with
its all-surrOunding curtain of sOmber
cloud, and its uninhabited wastes of
snow and rock. that my heart sank
within me at my loneliness. Turning
mOmentarilY nOrthwards, I rounded
the rift of snow, and once more
dragged myself, now breathless and
painting, and with aching limbs, along
the slippery ridge of bare rock,
which went ever mounting up
wards. The feeling that
overcame me when l sat and gasped
for breath on the wet and slippery
rocks at this great height, was
one Of overwhelming isolation. l felt
as if | should never more regain the
force to move, and must remain and
die amid this horrid solitude of stones
and snow. Then l took some brandy
and-water from my flask, and little
courage came back to me- l was mis-
erably cold, the driving mist having
wetted me to the skin. Yet the tenn
perature recorded here was above the
freezing-pOint, being thirty-five de-
grees Fahrenheit. The mercury rose
to 1888. This observation. when
properly computed, and with the cor
rection added for the temperature of
the intermediate air, gives height of
sixteen thousand three hundred and
fifteen feet as the highest point l at
tanned on Kilima-Niaro."
When he returned to the camping
place, Mr.. Johnston found that his
three followers had deserted him, be-
ing thoroughly terrified, and certain
that the white man had persisted on
the lonely heights. With much diff
Guilty he made his way to the station
on the lower ground, where the great
body of his attendants had remained;
and in due course the whole party ar
rived safely again at Taveita. From
there a new route was taken, by way
of Lake Jipe, to the coast at Pangani,
where the followers were paid off. An
English mission afforded Mr.. Johnston
shelter until he could get a passage on
an Arab dau to Zanzibar, where he
caught the mail-steamer; and in little
more than six weeks after getting his
last glimpse of the snOw-peaks of Kill
imam jarO, from the shores of Lake
Jipe, the gallant explorer was in Lon
don once more.
Although attaining the highest alti-
tude yet reached by man in Africa,
Mr.. Johnston did not complete the
conquest of Kilima-Njaro. But he
reached within two thousand feet of
the summit; and having shown the
way, it will be odd if some of the adj
venturous spirits among alpine climb
ers do not essay the task of peering
into the hidden depths of the crater of
KibO. Be this as it may, the expedi-
ton has resulted in the acquisition of
a vast amount of valuable information
about the geography, the fauna and
flora of this strange district, where in
two days you can ascend from equa-
tOrial heat to arctic cold. Even in the
plains, the temperature is, for six
months in the year, quite bearable,
and in some parts delightful. The ex-
treme fertility of the mountain slopes,
the abundance of game, the stores of
ivory to be obtained from the vast
herds of elephants, the rale and beau
tiful skins-in short, all the known
riches of animal and vegetable produc-
ton, and the supposed existence of
mineral deposits, such as copper and
nitrate of soda, point to this district as
destined to play an important part in
the future of Africa. Chambers Jour-
nal