At this time one of the gentlemen, Mr. Haddington, who went higher up amongst the snow, accompanied by one of the natives, in expectation of reaching the summit, returned to us so over powerd with fatigue that he was taken very ill : in this state we dreaded the consequence of his remaining with us all night, and after giving him some little refreshment, we sent him off before he coold or stiffend with the cold, to the encampment, attended by two of the natives, and we were happy afterwards to find that he reached it in due time, and fortunately recovered.
As we had now taken up our abode at the lower edge of the snow I observed the Barometer at six in the evening, when it stood at i9in 8opts which in altitude is equal to 11515 feet, and the Thermometer at the same time was at 33°.
We were not, as might naturally be expected, at this time, without our apprehensions that our constitutions which were for some time inurd to the searching heats of a tropical climate below, would be greatly affected by this sudden transition to the upper snowy region of the Mountain, for since we began our ascent we may be said to have gone through all the variety of climates be tween the Equator and the Pole. We quitted the tropical planta tions below and came through the vast forest which surrounds the middle region of the Mountain and which may justly be considered as its temperate zone, and now we are stationed for the night within the verge of the frigid zone of this immense peak, which in this way may be aptly compared to one of our Hemispheres, and yet, after all, we were so inconsiderate of our own safety as not to make any particular provision of warm clothing to prevent the banefull effects of this sudden change : it happened, however, very fortunate that the weather proved mild and favourable all the while, so that we did not suffer so much inconvenience by this quick transition from the tropical regions to this frigid zone as might be apprehended.
After the excessive perspiration we underwent in this fatiguing day's journey, clambering up a steep rugged ascent wholly ex posed to the influence of the sun in the heat of the day, it was necessary to take every precaution in our power to prevent numb ness and stiffness of our limbs by exercise and continually moving about to keep ourselves warm, for we had nothing here where with we could keep up a fire, and all the provisions we had re maining was a small quantity of chocolate, a few ship's biscuits and near a quart of rum, together with a few Cocoa Nuts : of these articles we carefully preserved the best half for next day, and divided the other half as equal as we could amongst the party which was now about a dozen in number. We managed to boil
the chocolate in a tin pot over a small fire made of our walking sticks, and each had his share of it warm, with a small quantity of rum in it, before he went to bed. We had no other water than what we melted from the snow, which we thought greatly im provd the chocolate.
For our bed we made choice of a flat even rock on which we could all huddle close together, and after marking out the exact space we should occupy, of it, we raised a small parapet round it, with the Lava, to break off the wind which after sunset blew very keen and penetrating : all the bed clothes we hitherto required were a few folds of the Sandwich Island Cloth over us, with a mat under us which was found sufficiently comfortable in the lower regions, but this night, after spreading a mat on the bare rock, as it was agreed we should all sleep together to keep our selves warm, we joined together everything we had for a general covering, made pillows of the hard lava, and in this was passed the night, tolerably comfortable, though we could not sleep much, nor was it indeed to be expected. At this time, so many thousand feet high, reclined on the hard rock for our bed, with no other shelter than the grand canopy of heaven our minds were vari ously occupied, sometimes in meditating on the dreadful conse quences of a snowstorm coming on whilst we were thus situated: at other times in contemplating the awfull & extended scene around us where the most profound stillness subsisted the whole night, not even interrupted by the least chirp of a bird or an in sect. The moon rose out of the sea at an immense distance and her orb appeared uncommonly large and brilliant, and the sky being perfectly clear overhead, the assemblage of stars appeard very numerous and shone with unusual brightness. These led the imagination to the utmost stretch and afforded objects of both wonder and admiration.