Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1897-09-08
MODEST PRINCE LUIGI.
Declines to Talk of His Exploit
but will Prepare
Monograph.

New York, Sept. 3.-Prince Luigi of
Savoy, Duke of Abruzzi, and nephew of
the King of Italy, is at the Waldorf,
having reached this city after accomplish
ing the feat, hitherto regarded as impossi-
BILE, of climbing to the summit of Mount
st. Elias.
Concerning his achievement, Prince
Luigi is very modest. He has avoided
conversing about either the character of
: the work he and his party had to perform
before they arrived at the summit or the
scientific facts he has added to the for
mer knowledge of the mountain. When.
he returns to Italy he will prepare a.
monograph concerning his experiences,
which will, it is said, be of great value to.
that division Of the scientific world inter
ested in the study Of the phenomena Of
great attitudes.
- Photographs of Peculiar Interest
This monograph Will be accompanied
by photographs Of peculiar interest,
which were taken by the party at various
stages of the journey. Some of these,
most notably those which were obtained
at elevations of more than 14,000 feet,
have no equals, it is said, in the world.
Not only do they show the effects OF
photography at such elevations, but the
actual appearance Of what has been re-
garded as an insurmountable peak The
negatives are in the personal keeping OF
the prince, who prizes them as the most
valuable of his trophies of Mount st.
Elias. They will be developed in Italy,
and until then Prince Luigi declines to
converse about them.
Chevalier Cagni was the princes
spokesman. He was enthusiastic over
the success of the exploration. He said:
You will be surprised to know that the
ascent was not either very dangerous or
Wo oil cod
taineers and we had all of us encountered
dangers in climbing far more perilods
mountains than those with which we
were confronted. The notable features
of the long climb was the glaciers. They
seemed to be bOundless. We had never
before witnessed such vast expanses, and
their splendor is unrivaled. There were
many creyasseS, some of them very wide,
but these were also overcome and we
reached the top after eighteen hours Of
hard climbing.
Respiration was Difficult.
E"The sensation we experienced when
we were at an altitude, of more than A.
900 feet was chiefly rapid and difficult
respiration The rarity of the air made
the last steps of the journey difficult,
but the WEAKNESS was more than repaid
by the views which we obtained at the
summit. These photographs were taken.
which, [ believe, Will open the eyes Of
mountain climbers.
Our chief regret was that we were
unable to carry really large camera on
account of its weight. The one we had,
however, presented an excellent field. and
from its photographs we expect 70 obtain
admirable results.
THE most difficult part of the trip was
from The Divide From this point it
required eleven hours TO gain the top.
We had lots of adventures, and everyone
of the party. including the prince and the
guide, fell into crevasses. but we were SO
well prepared against accidents OF that
sort that no one came to harm. We
came down the slope of the mountain to
the Divide in a little more than two
hours. There was some danger, perhaps.
in this, for the ice bridges and snow
bridges under the influence of the after
noon sun had melted somewhat and we
were not always able to trust ourselves
to them, but the hazardousness of it all
was forgotten in the excitement. which
was superb, and set the whole system
tingling WITH the exercise.
1--WE found the mountain to be. accord
ing to our instruments, 1890 feet high.
| say this, of course. with the under
standing that after more careful mathe-
NAUTICAL application we may find that the
height will vary twenty or thirty feet.
While it was cold at the summit. it was
not excessively so. our thermometers in
dicating II degrees below zero. In re-
turning it would have been to our adj
vantage had the temperature remained at
that TOint -