The Last Secrets: The Final Mysteries of ExplorationBuchan, John
History
The Last Secrets: The Final Mysteries of Exploration
Buchan, John
Discoveries in geography; Explorers
It may be convenient here to explain the main features of the range,
giving them the new names which the expedition invented, and which
are now adopted by geographers. Kiyanja became Mount Baker, and its
highest point is called Edward Peak after the then King of England.
Due south, across the Freshfield Pass, stands Mount Luigi di Savoia,
a name given by the Royal Geographical Society and not by the Duke,
who wished to christen it after Joseph Thomson the traveller. Due
north from Mount Baker, and separated from it by the upper Bujuku
valley, is Mount Speke (the Duwoni of Johnston), with its main summit
called Vittorio Emanuele. West of the gap between Baker and Speke
stands the highest summit of all, Mount Stanley, with its twin peaks
Margherita and Alexandra. North of Mount Speke is Mount Emin, and
east of the latter is Mount Gessi. Five of the great massifs cluster
around the Bujuku valley, while the sixth, Mount Luigi di Savoia,
stands by itself at the south end of the chain.
The assault on Mount Stanley was delayed for some days by abominable
weather. At last came a clear season, and the Duke with his guides
crossed Freshfield Pass and ascended the valley at the back of Mount
Baker. There they spent an evening, which showed what Ruwenzori
could be like when clouds are absent. They found a little lake,
embosomed in flowers, under the cliffs, and looking to the west they
saw the sun set in crimson and gold over the great spaces of the
Congo Forest. Next day they reached the col which bears the name of
Scott Elliot, and encamped on one of the Mount Stanley glaciers at
the height of 14,817 feet. At 7.30 on the following morning they
reached the top of the first peak, Alexandra, 16,749 feet high. A
short descent and a difficult piece of step-cutting through snow
cornices took them to the summit of Margherita (16,815 feet), the
highest point of the range:--
"They emerged from the mist into splendid clear sunlight. At their
feet lay a sea of fog. An impenetrable layer of light ashy-white
cloud-drift, stretching as far as the eye could reach, was drifting
rapidly north-westward. From the immense moving surface emerged two
fixed points, two pure white peaks sparkling in the sun with their
myriad snow crystals. These were the two extreme summits of the
highest peaks. The Duke of the Abruzzi named these summits
Margherita and Alexandra, 'in order that, under the auspices of these
two royal ladies, the memory of the two nations may be handed down to
posterity--of Italy, whose name was the first to resound on these
snows in a shout of victory, and of England, which in its marvellous
colonial expansion carries civilization to the slopes of these remote
mountains.' It was a thrilling moment when the little tricolor flag,
given by H.M. Queen Margherita of Savoy, unfurled to the wind and sun
the embroidered letters of its inspiring motto, 'Ardisci e Spera.'"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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