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Daring Deeds of Great Mountaineers; DARING DEE GREAT MOU GlassJjr <Q K4) Book '•^ V- £ Digitized by the Internet Archive in_2011 with funding from The Library of Congress http://www.archive.org/details/daringdeedsofgre01stea DARING DEEDS OF GREAT MOUNTAINEERS DARING DEEDS OF GREAT MOUNTAINEERS TRUE STORIES OF ADVENTURE, PLUCK AND RESOURCE IN MANY PARTS OF THE WORLD BY RICHARD STEAD, B.A., F.R.Hist.S. M AUTHOR OF " ADVENTURES ON THE GREAT RIVERS," "WILL OF THE DALES," WITH MANY ILLUSTRATIONS PHILADELPHIA J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY LONDON: SEELEY, SERVICE & CO., LTD. I92I UNIFORM WITH THIS VOLUME THE DARING DEEDS LIBRARY FOR BOYS & GIRLS A Series of Copyright Books describing the Adventures, Bravery & Resources of Soldiers, Sailors & Others in all Parts of the World. Square crown 8vo, with many Illustrations in Colour. DARING DEEDS OF FAMOUS PIRATES. By Lieutenant E. Keble Chatterton, B.A. Oxon., R.N.V.R., Author of "The Romance of the Ship," "Fore and Aft," "Sailing Ships and their Story," &c, &c. DARING DEEDS OF HUNTERS AND TRAPPERS. By Ernest Young, B.Sc, F.R.G.S., Author of "The King of the Yellow Robe," &c, &>c. } &c. DARING DEEDS OF THE INDIAN MUTINY. By Edward Gilliat, M.A.Oxon., sometime House- Master at Harrow School, Author of "Forest Outlaws," &c, &c, &>e. DARING DEEDS IN DARK FORESTS. By H. W. G. Hyrst, Author of " Romance of the World's Fisheries," "Daring Deeds in Great Deserts," &-c. t &c, &e. DARING DEEDS OF GREAT PATH- FINDERS. By Edgar Sanderson, M.A. Cantab. DARING DEEDS OF GREAT MOUN- TAINEERS. By Richard Stead, B.A., F.R.Hist.S. SEELEY, SERVICE & CO. LIMITED PREFACE It is a curious fact that until two or three generations ago men did not see beauty in mountain scenery. To them the mountains were always forbidding, full of terror, awful, never alluring or fascinating. Towering peaks, rugged glaciers, lofty precipices, dark ravines, stupendous crags were things to shudder at and avoid, It is sometimes said that the mountains have lost their terrors, and certainly men seek them in our day from pure love of them, undeterred by the dangers and difficulties which must still be encountered by those who would scale their heights, or penetrate into their recesses. The exploits of Alpine climbers are wonderful for the enthusiasm and the daring which they display ; and the achievements of others who have braved the same perils in pursuit of science or commerce show a not less adventurous spirit. Of ventures on the high mountains, therefore, the records of travel are full, and the avalanche, the steep and slippery ice-slope, the storm, the exposure to extreme cold, to fatigue, to hunger, to attacks from wild beasts or still wilder men—these and a hundred other forms of danger PREFACE will still attract, and not deter, those in whose hearts the spirit of adventure stirs. The compiler desires to offer his grateful thanks to the various authors and publishers who have kindly permitted him to quote from their works. Full acknowledgment is made in each case at the end of the chapter concerned. CONTENTS CHAPTER PADS I. NAPOLEON ON THE GREAT ST. BERNARD - 13 II. AMONG THE MOUNTAINS OF ABYSSINIA - - 26 III. ON THE WAY TO SRINAGAR - - - 39 IV. A SOJOURN IN SOCOTRA - - - 50 V. A LADY'S ADVENTURES IN MEXICO - - 60 VI. ALBANIAN MOUNTAINEERS - - 72 VII. THE ROBBER REGION OF THE MEXICAN MOUN- TAINS - - - - - - 83 VIII. BIG GAME IN THE CASHAN MOUNTAINS - - 96 IX. WITH GALTON IN DAMARALA.ND - - - 108 X. THE WILD HILL TRIBES OF NORTH AFRICA - 120 XL IN THE ATLAS MOUNTAINS - - - 132 XII. SPORT BEYOND THE SASKATCHEWAN - - 143 XIII. ADVENTURES IN THE HIMALAYAS - - 155 XIV. SYRIAN MOUNTAINS AND SYRIAN ROBBERS - 167 XV. A NIGHT ADVENTURE ON THE BRISTENSTOCK - 178 XVI. PEAKS, GEYSERS, AND VOLCANOES - • 190 XVII. WITH TYNDALL ON THE WEISSHORN - - 202 XVIII. CROSSING THE ANDES IN WINTER - - 213 XIX. IN KAFFIR LAND- .... 225 XX. A TRAGEDY ON THE MATTERHORN - - 237 XXL SOLDIERING AND SPORT IN THE ROCKIES - 247 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS - CAUGHT IN A TEAP JvWVtupWCt \ - ^ 3 A NOVEL METHOD OP KILLING A BEAR - to face p. 48 AWKWARD ALLIES - - - „ 78 U^" AN UNWELCOME INTRUDER - - „ 100 A DANGEROUS MOMENT --'-.»» 150 A DARING FEAT „ 174 ! CROSSING THE KNIFE-EDGE DURING THE A WEISSHORN ASCENT ? , 206 A DANGEROUS RAOB - - „ 232 A TRAGEDY OF THE MATTERHORN - - „ 242 t/ PUBLISHERS' NOTE.— The contents of this boole hare been drawn from Mr. Richard Stead's larger and more expensive volume entitled " Adven- tures on the High Mountains" — CHAPTER I NAPOLEON ON THE GREAT ST. BERNARD Napoleon prepares to invade Italy—Four Alpine passes— Main body of forty thousand men to take the Pass of St. Bernard—Stores and ammunition sent on in vast quantities—A start from St. Pierre—Napoleon himself remains at Martigny—Heavy toil up to St. Bernard Hospice—Dangerous work for the artillery Guns encased in split fir-trees—Refreshments at the hospice A hundred peasants to each gun—Peasants^ exhausted^ run away —Mules give out—Soldiers harness themselves to their guns A night with the ordnance on the open snow field—The fort of Bard in the valley below—A formidable obstacle—Unsuccessful assaults—Messengers sent back to Bonaparte—He hastens over the mountains to Bard—Precipitous track over Albaredo moun- tain, above the fort, repaired and improved—Commander of Bard refuses to surrender—Guns on the heights above—An escalade attempted—Gunners uselessly sacrificed—Light-balls used by the Austrians in the fort—A straw-covered road Success—March down the valley—Outlet from the Alps defended by Austrians—The Chiusella stream— Austrians dis- lodged—A stupendous enterprise ends with full and marvellous success. Amongst the many recorded adventures on great moun- tains, few excel in thrilling interest those connected with military exploits, whether those exploits be glorious and 13 FOUR ALPINE PASSES successful, like those of Hannibal in ancient, and those of Wolfe in more modern times ; or whether they be such as the melancholy and disastrous retreat from Cabul, in those terrible early days of the year 1842. And perhaps no story of them all is more marvellous than that of Napoleon's passage of the Alps, when he led an army across the highest mountains in our quarter of the globe — a stupendous enterprise, perhaps unrivalled in the history of the world. It was in the May of 1800 that Bonaparte prepared to lead his troops across this almost impassable barrier into the plains of Italy, where, near Turin, lay encamped his enemies, the Austrians, As every one knows, the vast range of the Alps lies between France and Italy, with its towering peaks, its ice and snow, its frightful passes, its rocks and precipices, its avalanches, its thousand and one dangers. The notion of leading a great body of men, with all their stores, their food, their ammunition, their horses — with the necessary guns, tents, pontoons, and other implements, across the tremendous Alpine barrier could enter the brain of none save a madman — or a genius. There were four passes available for the army, and of these that of St. Gothard was reserved for troops coming from Germany under General Moncey. There remained three—the passes of the Simplon, the Great St. Bernard, and Mont Cenis. None of these had roads over them, as in our days. Napoleon chose for the main body of his army the middle route—that over the Great St. Bernard Pass, because the Simplon entailed a much longer march, and that by Mont Cenis would have led the troops right into u OPERATIONS ON THE MOUNTAINS the jaws of the Austrian force before Turin. So through this central pass was to travel a force numbering thirty- five thousand infantry and artillery, and five thousand cavalry, or forty thousand men in all. Smaller divisions of four or five thousand were sent to occupy the other passes, with orders to rejoin the main army in the plains of Lombardy. If all went well, there would in the course of a week or two be massed in Italy an army of no less than sixty-five thousand men, while Napoleon would hold all the passes of the Alps, so that, in case of defeat, he would have several lines of retreat open to him. Leaving untold the story of his earlier marches from Lausanne to Villeneuve, at the head of the Lake of Geneva, and thence to Martigny and St. Pierre, we may pass on at once to the operations on the mountains them- selves. "At St. Pierre the troops began to ascend by paths, covered with snow and bordered by precipices, scarcely more than two or three feet wide, exposed in noonday heat to the fall of frightful avalanches." In all there were fully thirty miles of mountain to be traversed, by passes with nothing like a road, ascending to heights of many thousand feet. Over all this everything had to be carried that was necessary for a numerous army and a campaign on a vast scale. The preliminary work was in itself enormous. Immense stores of food for man and beast had to be sent on in advance ; all the mules the country could supply had to be brought up ; workmen in great gangs had to be engaged. Further, guns had to be dismounted and sent on separately on sledges with low wheels, the carriages themselves being taken to pieces and placed on the backs 15 NAPOLEON AT MARTIGNY of mules. Ammunition had to be packed in boxes for conveyance in the same manner, and so with various other stores. A veritable army of workmen carried out all this work on the northern side of the Alps, while a similar body of craftsmen pushed on over the mountains to be ready to put the guns together and to do similar work when the worst of the defiles should have been passed.
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