CLIMBING IN THE CAUCASUS.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 41, 12 November 1907, Page 3

CLIMBING IN THE CAUCASUS.

;MISS.BARNICOAT'S EXPERIENCES: . ' . Miss Constance. Barnicoat, a Nelson girl, who for many? years was 'secretary, to- Mr. /Stead; of the "Review of Reviows," a-fdw-weeks ago arrived in London after a climb in tho Caucasus Mountains: in Asia Minor: Writing of Miss Barnicoat; "M.A.I>." says that she is a woman with a man's coiir-' age;. '-Well-built, agile, and ..slender," .the writer continues, "she is never satisfied unless sho is surmounting apparently insuperable difficulties. She - was tho: first wbman to scalo-Aile Froide, the most inaccfessiblci peak in the Dauphiny Alps, and since , then many /pther heights have been compelled to own' her conqueror. She is a thorough Britishor, hailing from New Zealand, .'where she'first leairned to love the keen delight of triumphing over altitude and,planting her alpenstock oh untrodden places. . She is endowed with all the' qualifications for a good climber—sure foot, cool head, and good' judgment—and she has/used them to excellent advantage. Miss Barnicoat's climbing dress \s a novel one, and, if.;worn in the; city, .wellld be responsible for no small sensation.. Sho proteots her head with a large,, grey felt, slouch hat; her body with a thick woollen sweater, and her legs with corduroy , walking hreeches, and warm hose of tho ltindaffected. by the tourist. ;• The Lady and tho .Tartars. " , "This plucky lady's latest' exploit was marred by illness, so that she did not beat' her previous climbing record, but sho succeeded in penetrating into the interior of ari exceedingly dangeioiis country where no Englishwoman had ever before'set foot. Miss Barnicoat toiled bravely upwards towards the double peaks of Mount Elbury, which rear their snow-covered cones to. a height of 18,000. feet, but had to succumb to indisposition. However, she'is determined to make a second attempt, and expects to set off noxt summer. She lias a,poor- opinion of Southern Russia, and says that the lawlessness .is inconceivable. -. In orietowri on the day. that the constitution was proclaimed a soldier cried,' "At last .we are free II must go and shoot my officer !" which ho immediately did.. In this semi-barbaric district .the gentlemen'who patronise the better-class restaurants gria'w poultry; bones ' in" public jnth th,i avidity of hungry' dogs, and their humorous badinage is of tho most primitive, kind imaginable. Miss Barnicoat tvas; ac'compamed. by two -Italian guides of whose • fidelity she speaks most highly, and who aro, she ..thinks, much preferable to the French; . They nursed her in her illness and cheered her in health.- It was due to tliei'r diplomacy that the Tartars, with whom she abode somo time, wore so friendly.: Never-theless,-she often required all her courage to persuade herself to retire to rest, for all hor hosts conspicuously, carried,great knives, formidable _ looking revolvers, and terriblo swords which were always displayed to the best, advantage: ■ Although Miss' Barnicoat: is intent upon paying the Caucasus another visit, she does not recommend tho place for 1 pleasure seekers." • •