MOUNT EVEREST.*

ME second Mount Everest expedition sent out by the Royal Geographical Society and the Alpine Club is now in Tibet, preparing to try to reach the summit, just over 29,000 feet high. The nature of its to clearly explained in the excellent book just published by Colonel Howard-Bury and other members of the party which made a full reconnaissance of the mountain last year. The topography of Everest, save for its southern face, which lies in forbidden Nepal, is now well understood.

Colonel lloward-Bury.and his companions entered Tibet from • Molest Everest : the Recentsaitsanal, reel. Br Lieut.-Colonel C. K. flowatd• Bury and other aanainathe ExpedtUan.. Londenz Ameba. Ma. sat.,

Sikkim, and marched due west to a point beyond the northern approaches of Everest. They found that on the west and on the north the mountain was inaccessible. Then they tried its eastern approaches and discovered a route up the Kharta valley to a high pass, the Lhakpa La, whence by descending to the East Rongbuk glacier and then climbing to a col, the Chang La, which is 23,000 feet high, they scald advance up a ridge to the north-eastern face of the pyramidal summit. They found, also, that the foot of the Chang La could be reached more easily from the north by way of the East Rongbuk glacier, thus avoiding the toilsome climb over the Lhakpa La. The expedition is now following this route, so that food and tents may be taken with no special difficulty to the head of the glacier,. six or seven thousand • feet below the top of the mountain.

The way up is thus Flown, to all appearance. Whether men, however strong and expert in climbing, can ascend to such a height as 29,000 feet is another question. Sir Francis Younghusband, in his introduction, answers it with a confident affirmative. Six or seven climbers have attained altitudes of 23,000 feet or more. The Duke of Abruzzi in the Karakorams reached a height of 24,609 feet, and holds the present climbing record. Airmen have ascended to still- greater heights and

returned safe and sound. The climbers- are supplied with bottles of oxygen lest they should find the air too rarefied to breathe. While the theorists are sure that the thing can be done, it is noticeable that Mr. Leigh-Mallory, who with Mr. Bullock, took

the leading part in the actual climbs last year and reached the Chang La, is by no means hopefill of attaining the summit. His account of his experiences is vivid and impressive. He speaks

of the intense heat of " the glacier-furnace "—a seeming contra- diction which anyone who knows the Alps will understand— and of the difficulty of making the tired lungs breathe deeply and regularly, in rhythm with the legs:— "We had proceeded a considerable distance and I was satis- fied with our progress, when the leader broke the monotony : he was seen to hesitate in the act of stepping up, to topple over and fall headlong downwards. This time he had guessed wrong ; his foot had hit unexpectedly against the steepening slope. Somehow he had passed in extreme fatigue from the physical state of stable equilibrium : he had become such a man as you may ' knock down with a feather;' and this little misadventure had upset his balance."

As the weeks went by, Mr. Leigh-Mallory observed that the native porters were breaking down and that he and his com-

panions were tiring. " The whole machine, in fact, was running down." He says that they became rapidly acclimatized to the high altitudes, and that men are clearly capable of digesting

their food and retaining a feeling of vitality up to a height of 23,000 feet. " It may be that after two or three days quietly spent at this height the body would sufficiently adjust itself to endure the still greater difference from normal atmospheric pressure 6,000 feet higher." Experience alone can decide. Mr. Leigh-Mallory remarks on the difficulty of establishing camps above the Chang La, and on the risk of encountering bad weather or a high wind, even if none of the party falls sick. The long snow slope from the Chang La to the top seemed to rise• gently up to about 28,000 feet. Beyond that there were obstacles and then a very steep climb to the summit. With good luck the climbers may succeed, but the difficulties are obviously serious.

Whether Everest is- conquered or not, last year's expedition

has elucidated the main problems connected with. the great mountain, and General Bruce's party this year will doubtless, add still more to our: knowledge. The whole neighbourhood, except on the Nepal side„ has been mapped, and the photographs

taken are at once most beautiful and moat instructive. Mere height and mere mass do not necessarily add to the charm of a

mountain landscape, Nothing, we are sure, could be finer than the peaks of the Eerne.se Oberland at sunset after a storm

or a distant view of the Matterhorn with the rose-pink light of early sunrise upon it. But the Himalayas are so vast and the very high peaks an numerous and awe-inspiring that even in the photographs they seem to have a fascination beyond that of anything which the mere tourist knows.. The descriptions of the Tibetan valleys carpeted with flowers, of the tame animals and the placid Buddhists who revere life so profoundly that they are distressed if a naturalist kills a butterfly, combine

with the wonderful pictures to make this a. most delightful balk