The Calcutta correspondent of the Times reports a splendid feat
of climbing in the Hindoo Koosh. Mr. Conway, an ex- plorer who has been studying the Himalayas above Cashmere for months, early in August, with a small party, ascended a peak which they named " Pioneer Peak," but which ought to be called " Conway Crest," which he believes to be 23,000 ft. high. He saw several other peaks, one of which, at the head of the Baltoro Glacier, the longest glacier in the world, he named " Golden Throne ;" and there is room to believe that peaks exist rivalling Mount Everest, which itself is not now believed to be the highest peak in the world. The party did not suffer in any marked way from the rarefaction of the air, and it is probable that their experience will throw light on the puzzling question why air at great altitudes affects climbers so very differently. Is the air itself different in different places, or is slowness of ascent the secret, the lungs growing acclimatised, or is the result wholly dependent on the pumping power of the climber's own heart ? A settlement of the problem in favour of the second solution would materially facilitate ascents, and give climbers reasonable hope of con- quering every hill the world contains. Mr. Conway must now be classed among the great explorers, and will, we hope, be able to continue his work, at least, till he looks down on the plains beyond the marvellous system of ranges which we call, for want of accurate names, " the Hindoo Koosh."
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