A Voyage in a Balloon | Page 3

of about six hundred metres, and were over the city; which satisfied me
of our complete quiescence, for I could not judge by our motionless
flags. Nothing betrays the horizontal voyage of a balloon; it is the mass
of air surrounding it which moves. A kind of wavering heat bathed the
objects extended at our feet, and gave their outlines an indistinctness to
be regretted. The needle of the compass indicated a slight tendency to
float towards the south.
I looked again at my companion. He was a man of thirty, simply clad;
the bold outlines of his features betokened indomitable energy; he
appeared very muscular. Absorbed in the emotion of this silent
suspension, he remained immovable, seeking to distinguish the objects
which passed beneath his view.
"Vexatious mist!" said he, at the expiration of a few moments.
I made no reply.
"What would you? I could not pay for my voyage; I was obliged to take
you by surprise."
"No one has asked you to descend!"
"A similar occurrence," he resumed, "happened to the Counts of
Laurencin and Dampierre, when they ascended at Lyons, on the 15th of
January, 1784. A young merchant, named Fontaine, scaled the railing,
at the risk of upsetting the equipage. He accomplished the voyage, and
nobody was killed!"
"Once on the earth, we will converse!" said I, piqued at the tone of
lightness with which he spoke.
"Bah! do not talk of returning!"
"Do you think then that I shall delay my descent?"

"Descent!" said he, with surprise. "Let us ascend!"
And before I could prevent him, two bags of sand were thrown out,
without even being emptied.
"Monsieur!" said I, angrily.
"I know your skill," replied he, composedly; "your brilliant ascensions
have made some noise in the world. Experience is the sister of practice,
but it is also first cousin to theory, and I have long and deeply studied
the aerostatic art. It has affected my brain," added he, sadly, falling into
a mute torpor.
The balloon, after having risen, remained stationary; the unknown
consulted the barometer, and said:
"Here we are at 800 metres! Men resemble insects! See, I think it is
from this height that we should always look at them, to judge correctly
of their moral proportions! The Place de la Comédie is transformed to
an immense ant-hill. Look at the crowd piled up on the quays. The Zeil
diminishes. We are above the church of Dom. The Mein is now only a
white line dividing the city, and this bridge, the Mein-Brucke, looks
like a white thread thrown between the two banks of the river."
The atmosphere grew cooler.
"There is nothing I will not do for you, my host," said my companion.
"If you are cold, I will take off my clothes and lend them to you."
"Thanks!"
"Necessity makes laws. Give me your hand, I am your countryman.
You shall be instructed by my company, and my conversation shall
compensate you for the annoyance I have caused you."
I seated myself, without replying, at the opposite extremity of the car.
The young man had drawn from his great coat a voluminous portfolio;
it was a work on aerostation.
"I possess," said he, "a most curious collection of engraving, and
caricatures appertaining to our aerial mania. This precious discovery
has been at once admired and ridiculed. Fortunately we have passed the
period when the Mongolfiers sought to make factitious clouds with the
vapour of water; and of the gas affecting electric properties, which they
produced by the combustion of clamp straw with chopped wool."
"Would you detract from the merit of these inventions?" replied I.
"Was it not well done to have proved by experiment the possibility of
rising in the air?"

"Who denies the glory of the first aerial navigators? Immense courage
was necessary to ascend by means of those fragile envelopes which
contained only warm air. Besides, has not aerostatic science made great
progress since the ascensions of Blanchard? Look, Monsieur."
He took from his collection an engraving.
"Here is the first aerial voyage undertaken by Pilatre des Rosiers and
the Marquis d'Arlandes, four months after the discovery of balloons.
Louis XVI. refused his consent to this voyage; two condemned
criminals were to have first attempted aerial travelling. Pilatre des
Rosiers was indignant at this injustice and, by means of artifice,
succeeded in setting out. This car, which renders the management of
the balloon easy, had not then been invented; a circular gallery
surrounded the lower part of the aerostat. The two aeronauts stationed
themselves at the extremities of this gallery. The damp straw with
which it was filled encumbered their movements. A chafing-dish was
suspended beneath the orifice of the balloon; when the voyagers wished
to ascend, they threw, with a long fork, straw upon this brazier,