style="font-size:15px;"> The ground was irregular and there was evidence of much volcanic activity. Random blocks, basaltic debris, pumice rocks, and volcanic glass were strewn all about. Several hundred feet below grew conifers, in thick isolated clusters, at the bottom of narrow gorges scarcely touched by the sun’s rays.
During the first part of this climb on the lower slopes, Harbert saw prints which indicated the recent passage of large animals.
“Perhaps these beasts won’t willingly give up their territory to us,” said Pencroff.
“Well,” replied the reporter, who had already hunted tigers in India and lions in Africa, “we’ll see about getting rid of them but, in the meantime, we must be on our guard.”
They gradually went higher. The route was long, made longer by the many detours and obstacles that could not be crossed directly. Also, at times, the ground suddenly fell away, and they found themselves at the edge of deep crevices that had to be skirted. Continually having to retrace their steps in order to find a more negotiable path took much time and energy. At noon, when the small troupe halted for lunch at the foot of a large cluster of spruce trees near a cascading brook, they found themselves still only half way to the first plateau, which they would not reach till nightfall.
The climbers struggled up a steep slope.
From this altitude, the sea’s horizon was much broader but, on the right, their view was blocked by a sharp promontory in the southeast, and they could not determine whether the coastline was connected to some land beyond. To the left, their line of sight extended several miles to the north; but their view to the northwest was cut off by the ridge of an unusually-shaped spur which formed a powerful abutment to the central cone. They were still, thus, unable to answer the question that Cyrus Smith wanted above all to resolve.
At one o’clock, the climb was resumed. It was necessary to angle toward the southwest and move once again through thick brushwood. There, under the cover of the trees, several pairs of gallinules2 of the pheasant family were flying about. They were “tragopans,”3 adorned by fleshy wattles which hang from their throats and by two slender cylindrical horns set behind their eyes. Among this species, which are the size of a rooster, the female is uniformly brown while the male glitters in his red plumage sprinkled with small white teardrop shapes. Gideon Spilett, with a stone thrown skillfully and vigorously, killed one of these tragopans which Pencroff, now hungry, could not look at without coveting.
Upon leaving the brushwood, the climbers, by mounting on each other’s shoulders, struggled up a steep hundred foot slope and finally reached a higher terrace composed of volcanic ground with very few trees. They then went toward the east once more, moving on a winding path which made the very steep slopes more practical. Everyone had to carefully choose the spot where he placed his foot. Neb and Harbert were in front, Pencroff was in the rear, and Cyrus and the reporter were between them. The animals which frequented these heights—and there was no lack of their prints—belonged to those species of sure foot and supple backbone, the chamois and the izards. They saw several of them, but this was not the name that Pencroff gave them:
“Sheep!” he shouted.
Everyone stopped fifty feet from a half dozen of these large animals with strong horns curving rearward and flat at the tip, with woolen fleece hidden under long silky buff colored hair. They were not ordinary sheep but a species generally found in the mountainous regions of the temperate zones which Harbert called mouflons.4
“Do they have legs and chops?” asked the sailor.
“Yes,” replied Harbert.
“Well, then they’re sheep,” said Pencroff.
These animals stood still among the basaltic debris and looked astonished as if they were seeing biped humans for the first time. Then their fear suddenly awakened and they disappeared in a bound among the rocks.
“Au revoir! Until we meet again!” Pencroff shouted to them in a tone so comic that Cyrus Smith, Gideon Spilett, Harbert, and Neb laughed.
The climb continued. On certain rock faces, they often saw traces of irregularly striated lava. They had to go around small volcanic areas of hot sulphur vapors which sometimes cut across their route. In several places, sulphur was present in crystalline form among other substances that generally precede lava flows, such as pozzuolanas, highly torrefied whitish cinders made by an infinity of small feldspar crystals.
As they neared the first plateau, formed by the truncated top of the lower cone, the difficulties of the climb became greater. Around four o’clock, they had passed the last zone of trees. There only remained, here and there, some emaciated pines which had managed to resist the strong blasts of the wind at this altitude. Fortunately for the engineer and his companions, the weather was magnificent and calm; a strong breeze at an altitude of 3000 feet would have severely affected their movement. They could feel the purity of the sky overhead through the transparent air. Around them reigned perfect calm. They could no longer see the sun, hidden by the vast screen of the upper cone which masked the western horizon. This enormous shadow, reaching to the shore, would lengthen as the radiant star descended in it daily trajectory. Several wisps of haze rather than clouds began to rise in the east, colored by all the colors of the spectrum under the action of the solar rays.
Only 500 feet separated the explorers from the plateau they wanted to reach in order to establish camp for the night, but these 500 feet were increased to more than 2000 by the zigzags they had to follow. The ground gave way underfoot. The incline was so steep that they slipped on the lava strata when, worn smooth by the wind, it did not offer enough foothold. Evening came on little by little, and it was almost night when Cyrus Smith and his companions, tired from a climb of seven hours, finally reached the plateau of the first cone.
The first order of business was to set up camp and to regain their strength by eating first and then getting some sleep. This second tier of the mountain rose on a base of rocks where they would easily find shelter. Fuel was not abundant; however, they could make a fire with moss and dry brushwood which grew on certain portions of the plateau. While the sailor made his fireplace on rocks which he arranged for this purpose, Neb and Harbert occupied themselves with gathering fuel. They soon returned with a load of brushwood. The flint was struck, the burnt linen caught the sparks of the flint and, with Neb blowing, a crackling fire was soon growing in the shelter of the rocks.
The fire was only intended to combat the night’s temperature, which was a little cold. It was not used to roast the pheasant which Neb saved for the next day. The rest of the capybara and a few dozen pine kernel almonds made up the ingredients of supper. It was not past six thirty when everything was finished.
Cyrus Smith then thought of exploring, in the semi-darkness, this large circular foundation which supported the upper cone of the mountain. Before resting, he wanted to know if this cone could be walked around at its base, just in case its flanks were too steep, making the summit inaccessible. This question preoccupied him because it was possible that on the side toward which the hat inclined, that is to say toward the north, the plateau might not be climbable. On the one hand, if they could not ascend to the summit of the mountain and if, on the other hand, they could not go round the base of the cone, then it would be impossible to examine the western portion of the country and the purpose of the climb would be in part unfulfilled.
The engineer left Pencroff and Neb to organize the sleeping arrangements and Gideon Spilett to note the incidents of the day. Ignoring his fatigue, he began to follow the circular border of the plateau going northward. Harbert went with him.
The
