The morning call., 1890-11-05
WOMAN MOUNTAINEERS
Feats of Climbing They Have
Recently Accomplished.

Several women have won considerable
distinction within the past few months in
the way of mountain climbing. Mount
Clarence, the great summit on the island of
Fernando Pc, near the west coast of Africa,
was recently assembled by German trav-
eler and his wife, who passed unseathed
among the Bube villages that have been such
terror to all expl orers. These people
have been regarded as mysterious people
simply because they we're not known. Sew
eral men have tried in vain to enetrate to
the central portion of the island and ascend
Mount Clarence, but Europeon woman
was in the first party that got TO the top.
Another remarkable journey OF which
news has just come is that OF Mrs. Little
dale and her husband, who have crossed the
great central As attic range OF the Hindu
KuSh. Here are the Hottest peaks OF the
globe, though this chain of mountains.
which woman has now helped to conquer,
has attracted less attention than the Him
aayan range lying to the east, on account OF
its inaccessibility and the supposed hostility
of the tribes. The only explorers who have
been in this region are native Indian sur
veyurs sent out by the Indian Government
in the guise of peddlerS and merchants, and
we have depended upon their reports for
our information about this country.
IT is not yet known how MIR. and Mrs.
Littledale succeeded in getting over these
announces that their journey has been safely
mpleted. They crossed the mountains at
poi ut little northwest OF Cashmere. This
is undoubtedly the first time in Central Asia
that a woman was with the party which did
the pioneer exploring In region that was
supposed to be inaccessible to white men.
= The most remarkable woman climber of
the past year is Miss Meme Dowie, an ad-
ventursome Scotch girl, who spent last sum
mer travelling alone among the Carpathian
mir in nnrthp1lf a
Hungary on horseback and on foot, with no
companion except the peasant who attended
her. For ten weeks in this wild region she
lived among the Galirian peasantry, con-
forming entirely to their ways of life.
Night after night, when up in the high
mountains, she sleptin the open air wrapped
only in cloak. She had reason to know
now and then in her solitude that wildcats.
bears and wolves exist in considerable num-
Der in the Carpathians, and are rather more
curious to find out all about stranger than
was comfortable for her. But she says there
is no real obstacle to girl travelling alone
from London to the Russian frontier.
Probably not one girl in ten thousand,
however, would think there was any fun in
travelling as Miss Dowie did. She seldom
wore shoes when climbing the mountains.
for they were slippery aud she found she
could ascend steep slope in greater COM
fort barefoot, with her footgear slung
around her neck. She met with number
once while bathing. But she returned home
very brown and healthy and very enthusi-
astic over her unique summer tour. She
says she is going back to Gallcla again.
but she hopes that her description of
the journey will not induce, any
other girl to follow her example. for
the hardships of the journey, she
thinks. would in most cases more than off
set its pleasant and romantic features. She
says no one can travel among this mountain
peasantry without believing that Poland
will one day be ON her feet again. The
people cling to their love of the old nation
atty and have mistaken faith that Poland
will one day again wear its crown.
This young lady recently read paper on
her summers adventures before the British
Association. The paper showed how adj
mirably young lady may study geography.
for it was full of interesting Information,
and the great geographer, Ravenstein, said,
in moving vote of thanks, that Miss Dowie
was more entitled to be called a real geo.
grapher than many of those who went much
further afed.-N. Y. Sun