Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-03-02
AFRICA'S HIGHEST POINT.
Planting the German Flag There An Inter-
esting Undertaking.

| Kilima-Njaro the Central African mounta in,
has at last been conquered, says writer in the
| London Times. DR.. A. B. Meyer, who failed to
reach the summit in 1887, made determined eff
| fort in October last, and during twenty days
| stay on the upper slopes of the mountain as
| cended to the top of Kibo four times, and of
Mawenzi Cor KimawenzD three times. AS he
| periodically puts it, he was able to plant the
| flag of Germany on the highest point of German
territory, for such we must admit Kilima-Njaro
| to be. In communication to the new number
of Petermann's Mittheiiungen DR.. Meyer gives
| detailed account of his ascent. On October
he and his companion. Purtscheller, native of
| Pangani, reached the saddle-plateau above
Mareale's village, which 4,270 feet formed the
| base of operations.
''The plan of ascent, as the Times writer ex-
plains it, was to mount the great rib running in
| a southeasterly direction and fanEing on the
south the southeast glacier valley, and from its
| highest spur to begin the scramble up the ice
| cap. There was much less snow on the noun
tain than there was in July, 1887 At $3.50 a. M,
| on October 3, the ascent began. At they met
the first snow, 16 400 feet At 7:20 they stood on
| the ridge of the mountain rib and thence began
! the steep ascent of the crest. Hating little
| every ten minutes in the ever-rarefying air,
they rested at 8: l5 half hour, at H. 220 feet.
| Above them blinked and glimmered the ice cap
| of the Kibo. Shortly before 9 they attained
II, $50 feet and at $3.50 the lower limit of the ice
! cap lat height of Is, 240 feet. Here the usual
| precautions to spectacles, ropes and axes
| were taken, and the work of step-cutting
| began.
After crossing several crevasses, they rested
at 1920 under steep ascent OF the ice wall, at
| 1000 feet high. The curve of the ice cap,
| which is the highest point visible from below,
was now under them. The difficulty in breath
| ing made them halt few seconds every fifty
| steps. At last. their strength getting rapidly
exhausted, they reached, at AS, the rim of the
| Kibo crater. At the same time they saw its
highest elevation to the left on the south side of
<afV, IutfT nTFNt1
| rising some yards above the ice cap. The dis
| lance they estimated at about and a half
| hours march. But for this their strength was
| unequal, except at the risk of having to bivouac
| without the least protection in the cold all
| night. They had done an extremely fatigulng
! eleven hours climb, between IA 600 and 1900
| feet, and had TO take account of the mist that
| was floating above the ice walls. They decided
to rest content with the result of their first as
| cent The great crater at Kibo, with its ice
| precipices. the eruption cone rising from its
| depths, was discovered. The descent began and
| the tents reached at 6:4S p. m.
ION October DIR. Meyer and his companions
| started at noon to bivouac at a greater height.
rim of the crater, their turning point on the Sd.
The ascent to the highest peak offered no extra
ordinary difficulty. The ice rim steadily rises
in southerly direction, where it is broken into,
| three points emerging above the ice cap. Not
| being quite which was the highest, they
| mounted all three, and the aneroid gave the
middle one Is, $50, as fifty to eighty feet higher
! than the other two.
ION the ice pinnacle DR.. Meyer planted the
| helm Spite. From this point especially the
great Kibo crater is easily viewed. With q d.
ameter of about six thousand five hundred feet
the crater sinks about six hundred and fifty feet
! to its base. On the northern and eastern sides
| the ice cap descends from the rim in steep gal
| leries, while on the western and southern sides
| the bare lava rock plunges Steeply from the up
per ice rim. From the base of the crater there
rises somewhat northerly from the center, a
slightly arched eruption cone to about four hun
dred and ninety feet high. Like the crater bot
| tom, it consists of dark brown ashes. Its upper
/ hale fef frO~,l faA Tfe hn1Q
| is panoplied with mighty ice girdle, which
proceeds, presumably, as glacier from the
broad crater chasm opening westward. On the
crater bottom lie several larger fields of half
melting ice crust.
''Again, on October IL, DR.. Meyer and his
companions mounted to the saddle plGteau. On
the 18th they shifted their tent in the direction
of the Mawenzi summit, to the east of Kibo,
making themselves at home for the next ten
days at the southern base of the lava hill stu
ated on the plateau next to the Mawenzi, the
east lava hill as they continued to call it, On
Mawenzi over the most rugged and riven and
dangerous ground DR.. Meyer ever traversed.
proportionately worn and torn. So ragged and
torn by wind and weather is the crumbling rock
that one wonders at it holding together. The
least touch and the pieces give way.
when, after four hours. they gained the top,
16, 500 feet, they found themselves not on the
topmost crest, but only on the point of the
great transverse rib running west. On the
other side of a rubbish heap rises the great wall
supporting the highest teeth of the Mawenzi.
started at 4:3O a: m. for second ascent OF Ma
wenZi. Their aim from the great western
mass mass OF debris to push east to the main crest
feet. Higher is the region of ichens and
moses Following the course of the debris
they entered the rocks of the main crest, riven
like dolomites. After hard scramble in the
de eply eroded burrows they stood, at s O'Clock,
1880 feet, in small notch of the main crest.
north of its great cleft, and enjoyed a confined
view of an extraordinarily deep abyss of the
mountain to the east.
Semi 5So4,
the crevice, though very steep, was managed.
From the topmost pinnacle, however, it is sep
aratea BY Two Two peaks rising little above 1t. TO
forward on the splintered edge. In the confu-
sion of weathered stumps, towers, needles, bat
Elements and channels it was difficult for them
to know where they were. The view to the east
was pretty free, that to the north half OBJ
structed by two lateral crests deyiating north
east behind each other. The eastern walls of
the Mawenzi here showed themselves to be much
sleeper and deeper than on the western side,
where its base rests on the broad saddle pla-
teau. The whole from above looks like gigan-
tic honeycombs.
ION the 18th they started on a third ascent
of the Kibo, by its northern slope. At about
the same height as on the southern side begins
very small grdle of primeval forest, interrupted
several times by grass plains. 1t steadily in
creases in breadth eastward. Above the prime
val forest again stretches the gray brown grass
plan up to the stePpe plain: the watered and
ern side is entirely wanting on the northern.
A five hours extremely fatiguing scramble over
west showed that the very small ice cap, begin
ming at the considerable average height of lS,-
900 feet, ends abruptly in continuous high ice
wall, 100 feet to 115 feet. Deducting the four
days interruption, from October 8 to II, DR..
Meyer and his companion were working for six
teen days at a height of over thirteen thousand
feet; made four ascents of the Kibo summit, and
three to the summit of MawenZi. This first as
cent of what is probably the highest mountain in
Africa is highly creditable to DR.. Meyer and his
friend, and has resulted in a valuable addition
to our knowledge of natures handiword.'
Grits, hominy, navy beans, lima
beans, green English peas always on
hand. FORT WORTH GROCER Co.