The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1909-09-01
ALPS OF THE EQUATOR.
The Duke OF the Abruzzi's Exnlora-
tiOn of the Mountain of the
MOOn."

Mr.. Edward Wympers narrative
entitled 'The Exploits of the Duke OF
the Abruzzi" is continued in the Sep
tember Wide World Magazine. In
this installment, Mr. Wymper takes
the reader from the Arctic regions to
the Equator, the object of the Duke
being to explore the "Mountains of
the M oon'
Schoolboys of the last generation.
says he, used to hear a good deal
about the Mountains of the Moon"
This appellation has disappeared
from modern geographical text
books, and is replaced by Ruwenzori
Ruwenzori was first seen in mod
ern times by Stanley on May Gath,
1888. He recognized it as a single
snowy mountain rather than as
| range, and estimated it's distance
from him to be seventy miles. On
March 18th, 1889, when about eighty
miles off, he considered that 1T was
eighteen to nineteen thousand feet
high. He did not get to a considera-
BILE elevation. but he rightly guessed
that the height of the highest peaks
was about sixteen thousand six hun
dred feet On June 18th Stanley saw
RuwenZOri again, and said it was
'one Of the rarest sights in the world.
a bright vision of mountain
beauty and glory"
The Duke always takes an ade-
Quate staff for the operations he pro-
poses to carry out. He believes in his
compatriots, and on this journey
Italians alone were employed. In all
the party consisted of eleven persons.
On starting from Entebbe the cara
van had grown to three hundred por-
| ters and assistants. The march was
| made in fifteen days. When about
| -sixths Of it had been accomplish
ed they got their first view of Ruwen-
zori, still long way off.
| Bujongolo, twelve thousand four
headquarters. Bujongolo was con-
| veniently situated, but yielded rather
cold quarters for the porters. This
had been foreseen, and flannels and
blankets were distributed among
| them. '"They had great difficulty in
putting them on, and their long and
ludicrous attempts generally resulted
in frantic efforts to squeeze their leg:
| into the sleeves of the woolen vests
The temperatures experienced or
the SUBMITS of the Equatorial snow
capped peaks were by no means Sc
| vere They were seldom much be
meath the freezing point. The Lowest
| (23.4 degrees F) seems to have Oc-
Cured on June 18th. upon Peak Mar
gherfa. At Bujongolo it general!
fell to 33 or "a degrees F. at night
The frequent mists were a mucl
greater obstacle than the cold.
The ascents made in the' Ruwen
Zori range are not to be compared il
difficulty with the ascent of Noun
ST. Elias. Both the peaks and thei
glaciers are comparatively small
They presented few obstacles, ant
their ascents might have been mad
by less skillful mOuntaineers, bu
what there is to admire in this Afri
can campaign are the perfect man
agement, the adoption of the righ
means to attain the ends which wer
in view. and the completeness of Tia
manner in which the results were at
tanned. His Royal Highness showed
once again that he is an excellen
mountaineer and organizer.
1t is now the Dukes intention t.
scale the Himalayas. He is still
young, having been born at Madri'
on January 29th, 1878, and so ha
only just entered his thirty-seventl
year. On the Roof of the World
there is space enough for him t
eclipse his conquest of the Noun
tains of the Moon"
|