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276 THE KXl'LOKATION OF THE CAUCASUS I might have been boiling thermometers, or feeling my own pulse, or securing accurate bearings. But I would put in a plea for the makers of 'first ascents.'' They open the way, and make it easy for others to follow them. We mountaineers are not the camp-followers, as some critic has impertinently suggested, but the cili y I have no pioneers of science. Flat experimentum in corpore objection to the application of the proverb. Where our bodies have let the Scientific Bodies follow at their opened a new observatory, ease and their leisure. Had I tried to measure precisely I should not have succeeded. As it was, I estimated Tetnuld as ' slightly over 16,000 feet.' The new survey makes it 82 feet under 16,000 feet. The survey makes Gestola 14 feet higher than its sister peak. But I should like to be certain both peaks were measured from the same side of the chain. There have been very considerable discrepancies in some of the heights from time to time communicated to me by the Surveyors, as results of the new measurements. Undoubtedly they are, as a whole and approximately, accurate, but I feel confident that— as has been the case in the Austrian Alps — further corrections will in several cases have to be made in the oflicial figures. We had time to study in detail the vast panorama commanded by our space-searching summit. The broad snow-fields of the Zanner, over which next day we hoped to force a pass, called for particular attention. What a superb ice-gorge led up to the gap between us and Gestola ! The green valley over its shoulder should be Chegem. Dykhtau was a surprise ; the southern face was this year all white, while Donkin's photograph had prepared us for a bare clifi"; Koshtantau, all but the pyramidal top, was masked by the cKffs of Mishirgitau ; Shkara dominated everything on the watershed ; Janga was a little higher between than ourselves : them of the horizon they cut ofi" the view of the eastern snows. The part was narrower than in most Swiss and occupied by snowy peaks I am fortified in my plea by tlie fact that I have my old friend, Professor Tyndall, with me. His famous description of the first ascent of the Weisshorn concludes as follows : opened my notebook to make a few observations, but I soon relinquished the attempt. There was something incongruous, if not profane, in allowing the scientific faculty to interfere where silent worship was the "reasonable service. '' ' I
THE ASCENT OF TETNULD 277 many Caucasian views, but the heights were on a scale more imposing than that of the Alps. Beyond the sunny hills of Miugrelia and the sea-haze I made out plainly the distant snow-flecked ranges towai'ds Kais and Trebizond : Ararat I failed to recognise, though there were some distant pink cumuli which probably marked its whereabouts. General Chodzko, the first Director of the Caucasian Staff, who camped on the top of Ararat, asserts that he identified Elbruz from it. The distance between these peaks is 280 mUes ; Tetnuld is 30 miles less. On the Alps I have, from a height of 12,000 feet in the Ortlev Group, seen Monte Viso at a distance of over 200 miles. As we were on the point of starting a guide kicked an ice-axe and set it sliding. It happily hitched on the very verge of the Adisli slope. In cutting the few steps needful for its recovery, we had another opportunity to realise what that slope is. The descent of the ridge proved perfectly safe and easy, and in about an hour we were back at the saddle. Here I felt some headache, our only suffering from the rarity of the aii- : it passed off after a light meal, and was probably more due to hunger than anything else. Light clouds had begun to form in the seaward hollows ; they collected in the dales of Suanetia, and now suddenly, as if at a given signal, streamed up to us. I was reminded of the procession of the Ocean Nymphs in the Prometheus Vinctns. They passed lightly overhead, lingered a while roimd the peaks, and before sunset had again melted away. The descent was without further incident. The snow was very heavy, but our heails were light. We had a momentary difierence when the leading guide, justly dreading our track through the s^racs so late in the day, began to make for the northern corner of the great basin. Frangois and I had to insist on a sharp turn to the left, which brought us to the top of the long straight slope by which I had proposed to ascend, south of the rocky boss. We wallowed up to our Avaists, but the slope was steep enough to make progi-ess, even by wallowing, comparatively rapid. We were soon on hard and bare ice, and the rope could at last be taken
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THE ASCENT OF TETNULD 277<br />
many Caucasian views, but the heights were on a scale more<br />
imposing than that of the Alps.<br />
Beyond the sunny hills of Miugrelia and the sea-haze I made<br />
out plainly the distant snow-flecked ranges towai'ds Kais and<br />
Trebizond : Ararat I failed to recognise, though there were some<br />
distant pink cumuli which probably marked its whereabouts.<br />
General Chodzko, the first Director of the Caucasian Staff, who<br />
camped on the top of Ararat, asserts that he identified Elbruz<br />
from it. The distance between these peaks is 280 mUes ; Tetnuld<br />
is 30 miles less. On the Alps I have, from a height of 12,000<br />
feet in the Ortlev Group, seen Monte Viso at a distance of over<br />
200 miles.<br />
As we were on the point of starting a guide kicked an ice-axe<br />
and set it sliding. It happily hitched on the very verge of the<br />
Adisli slope. In cutting the few steps needful for its recovery, we<br />
had another opportunity to realise what that slope is. The descent<br />
of the ridge proved perfectly safe and easy, and in about an hour<br />
we were back at the saddle. Here I felt some headache, our<br />
only suffering from the rarity of the aii- : it passed off after a light<br />
meal, and was probably more due to hunger than anything else.<br />
Light clouds had begun to form in the seaward hollows ; they<br />
collected in the dales of Suanetia, and now suddenly, as if at a<br />
given signal, streamed up to us. I was reminded of the procession<br />
of the Ocean Nymphs in the Prometheus Vinctns. They<br />
passed lightly overhead, lingered a while roimd the peaks, and<br />
before sunset had again melted away.<br />
The descent was without further incident. The snow was very<br />
heavy, but our heails were light. We had a momentary difierence<br />
when the leading guide, justly dreading our track through the<br />
s^racs so late in the day, began to make for the northern corner of<br />
the great basin. Frangois and I had to insist on a sharp turn to<br />
the left, which brought us to the top of the long straight slope<br />
by which I had proposed to ascend, south of the rocky boss.<br />
We wallowed up to our Avaists, but the slope was steep enough to<br />
make progi-ess, even by wallowing, comparatively rapid. We were<br />
soon on hard and bare ice, and the rope could at last be taken
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