MT. EVEREST EXPEDITION.

Taranaki Daily News, 30 May 1921, Page 5

MT. EVEREST EXPEDITION.

THE START DESCRIBED. DETAILS OF TRANSPORT AND EQUIPMENT. By Telegraph.—Press Assn. —Copyright. Received May 28, 5.5 p.m. London, May 28. The Times has received an exclusive despatch from Colonel Howard Bury, leader of the adventurous expedition which hopes to conquer Mt. Everest. He thus describes the start from Darjeeling:— The advance party left on the thir j teenth up the Teesta Valley to correct the maps. The main body left in two sections from Government House on the eighteenth and nineteenth in monsoonlike weather, torrential downpours, with the mountains veiled by thick clouds.

The principal transport consists of one hundred mules and drivers. The hillmen from Northern India, in preparation for the great adventure, have been route marching for weeks past. Forty Sherpa coolies, drawn from villages close to Everest, which have never before been visited by Europeans, will provide the porter corps. They are strong and sturdy, with an amazing sense of humor. Their strangest characteristic is their huge feet, which made fitting out in boots a tough problem. The expedition is fully equipped with medical, geological, botanical and zoological experts, together with a complete equipment of surveying and photographic apparatus, and arrangements have been made to develop the results at Tibet.—Times Service.