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CHAPTER XI T
THE ASCENT OF TETNULD
Constitui posthac, quaiDdiu milii vita divinitiis concessa fuerit, qiiotannis iiiontesaliquos aut
salteiu unum conscendere. Quanta enim voluptas, quantae sunt, putas, aninu, ut par est uifecti,
deliciae, montium moles iiumensas spectacle adniirari, et caput tanquam inter nubes attollere I
Quibus vero socors est animus nihil iiiii-antur. domi torpunt, non prodeunt in nmndi theatrum.
Volutentur ip;itur in Into : hicro et illiberalibus studiis attoniti jaceant. c. gksxeu, a.d. 1 r)4I.
^HE literary
success of Mr.
Grove's Frost ij Caucasus,
great
as it was. did not
produce in tliis country
immediate revival of
any
Caucasian Exj^loration.
Its failure in this respect
was, 1 think, due mainly
to two causes— the war of 1877, and the impression created bv
the fever which fell on Mr. Grove and his companions during
their descent to the Black Sea.
It was to M. de Dechy, the Hungarian traveller, as I have
already said, that the credit of recalling our thoughts to the
Caucasus was to a great extent due. His three journeys, in 1884,
1885, and 188G, had resulted in several interesting climbs and
some valuable topographical explorations, and also—what was more
generally eifective— in a large series of excellent photographs, which
brought for the first time the scenery and people
of the Caucasus
vividly before men's eyes. In 1885 I became the channel through
which his work was made known to the Alpine Club, and it was
partly perhaps through this communication that my
friends Mr.
Clinton Dent and Mr. ^\'. I'. Donkin were, in 1886. induced to
try their luck in the Caucasus. They set out with the intention
of
following ^Ir. Grove's suggestion, and attacking the peak at the