No Martial balloonist,
much less any Martial mountain-climber, has ever, save once, reached a
greater height than 16,000 feet--the air at the sea-level being
scarcely more dense than ours at 10,000 feet. Kevima indicated one
spot in the southern range of remarkable interest, associated with an
incident which forms an epoch in the records of Martial geography. A
sloping plateau, some 19,000 feet above the sea-level, is defined with
remarkable clearness in the direction from which we viewed it. The
forests appeared to hide, though they do not of course actually
approach, its lower edge. On one side and to the rear it is shut in by
precipices so abrupt that the snow fails to cling to them, while on
the remaining side it is separated by a deep, wide cleft from the
western portion of the range. Here for centuries were visible the
relics of an exploring party, which reached this plateau and never
returned. Attempts have, since the steering of balloons has become an
accomplished fact, been made to reach the point, but without success,
and those who have approached nearest have failed to find any of the
long-visible remains of an expedition which perished four or five
thousand years ago.
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