"
CHAPTER VI.
DEPARTMENT OF MINES.
I called at the appointed time and was introduced to the Chief
Engineer, who invited me to accompany him on an inspection tour, to
which I gladly assented, and, after a week's pleasant travel by rail, we
arrived at the station on the southwestern slope of Mount Everest at an
elevation of twelve thousand feet above the sea. We had arrived in the
evening and enjoyed a good night's rest, and, eating a hearty breakfast,
we walked out to take observations of the locality, before taking our
trip to the summit, and the Chief told me of the way by which they
finally erected an observatory on the highest mountain of the earth.
"Five years ago the President sent for me," explained the Chief
Engineer, "and asked if I could plan an observatory on Mount Everest. I
replied that I would try to do so if the Government saw fit to place me
in charge of the undertaking. I received my commission the next day and,
calling to my aid two of the ablest engineers in the service of the
Government, we selected a site for the entrance of the tunnel and next
we searched for suitable power to do the work.
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