Having satisfied myself that they were perfectly sound in lungs, heart, and digestive organs—they were, indeed, too sound in the latter respect—we were ready to start the following day. Each man carried a weight of 20 seers (or 40 lbs.), a light [[4]]load, as I intended doing double and treble marches daily.
It was my intention to do a considerable amount of mountaineering en route, and I did it; but, contrary to the usual custom of British mountaineering expeditions (which set out with much flourish of trumpets) I did not burden myself with the company of Swiss Alpine guides. Here is the reason. I am well aware that it impresses a good many brainless folks to hear that an expedition to the Andes or the Himahlyas is accompanied, even led, by Swiss guides; but to any real mountaineer (I do not mean members of Alpine Clubs) the very fact that the members of such an expedition require guides at all is but a plain avowal that they have no faith in themselves, besides displaying a most infantile ignorance of how to find their way about. No mountaineer, who is a real mountaineer, ever needs to be told which is the best way to go up a mountain which is before him. His very instinct and observation tell him.
Let me remind you that the characteristics of mountains in different parts of the world vary to a considerable extent. It therefore seems to me that to employ a man (however fine a fellow he [[5]]may be) who has spent his life hauling hysterical Alpinists by a much-beaten trail up Mont Blanc or the Matterhorn, to show the way up a virgin Himahlyan peak, is as delightfully absurd as it would be to charter an untravelled London cabman to show you with intelligence the sights of Moscow, or Bagdad, or Jerusalem! Do not forget, too, that Mont Blanc or the Matterhorn are perfectly insignificant hills when compared to peaks in the Himahlyas.
As you know, the chief hobby and boast of certain Alpinists is to climb mountains by impracticable ways. This practice is to be condemned. In plain words, any man who tries to go up a mountain by any but the easiest way is an idiot, and should be confined to a lunatic asylum. When difficulties arise, and many do, naturally they have to be overcome as best one can. Then again, there are many feats in mountaineering and rock-climbing which appear very dangerous and are not dangerous at all to any one with steady head, heart, and legs; but the absurd mania of obtaining notoriety by going up a peak by a dangerous route when an easier way exists has no more sense in it than were a horseman to try and ride his horse under its tail instead of upon its [[6]]back! It is not real sport, and sport, above all things, should never be purposeless nor foolish.
Mountaineering, by any one in full possession of all his senses, is a delightful amusement, and possibly the pleasantest, healthiest, and most instructive exercise in existence. It develops every muscle in one’s body, makes one quick of sight and hearing, expands, cleans, and purifies one’s lungs, and it makes one—when dependent on oneself—a quick observer and a subtle student of Nature, its forces, and the ways of elements and how to counterbalance them. It should, therefore, be encouraged in any one born for the work; but, on the other hand, should be left severely alone by any one not specially constructed for the work by Mother Nature. It can but mean disaster in the end, and it generally does.
Unfortunate, too, is the man who in “exploring mountaineering” follows the rules and regulations laid down by theoretical but inexperienced amateurs of certain Alpine institutions. A practical mountaineer has nothing to learn from such misleading publications, whether brought out under the patronage of Clubs or by some enterprising charlatan or other. The constant suggestions to provide oneself with all sorts of [[7]]expensive and cumbersome tools, axes, alpenstocks, and other impedimenta are merely to swell the pockets of advertisers who support those publications, rather than to safeguard the life of intending mountaineers.
Personally, and I am speaking from a somewhat extensive experience, I owe my success and the lack of serious accidents in any of my mountaineering expeditions absolutely to the using none of the appliances recommended by Alpine clubs. I mention this at the outset to prevent the usual criticisms accusing me of having neglected precautions. It was done wilfully on my part, because, as far as mountaineering is concerned, I prefer to use what little common-sense I possess in preference to accepting the large amount of nonsense offered by other people.
I had spared no expense and trouble to obtain the best scientific instruments possible for taking observations, and they were specially manufactured for me, light in weight and extra strong, and with special cases to protect them from injury in the roughest of travelling. My instruments were tested at the Kew Observatory—both before going out of and after my return to England—and found in perfect condition. [[8]]
All altitudes of importance were invariably measured with the hypsometrical apparatus, several boiling-point thermometers being successively used in the observation. For differential heights of no great significance aneroids were used. All bearings were taken with a prismatic compass, and for latitude and longitude a 6-inch sextant was used, a chronometer watch, mercury and plate-glass artificial horizons.
Necessarily, I carried maximum and minimum thermometers and all necessary instruments and appliances for surveying work, photography, painting, etc. Several rifles and double-barrelled guns, a revolver, eight thousand rounds of ammunition, and ten pounds of gunpowder were carried, in case we had to do some shooting; while each man was given a large Gurkha kukri for his own protection.