 CHAPTER I There was a large audience assembled on 14 January 1862 at the session of the Royal Geographical Society No. 3 Waterloo Place, London. The President, Sir Francis M., made an important communication to his colleagues in an address that was frequently interrupted by applause. This rare specimen of eloquence terminated with the following sonorous phrases bubbling over with patriotism, England has always marched at the head of nations, for the reader will observe the nations always march at the head of each other. By the intriperity of her explorers in the line of geographical discovery, General Scent, Dr. Samuel Ferguson, one of her most glorious sons, will not reflect discredit on his origin, no indeed from all parts of the hall. This attempt should exceed, it will succeed, will complete and link together the notions as yet disjointed which the world entertains of African cartology. Veeamon applause. And should it fail, it will at least remain on record as one of the most daring conceptions of humane genius. Tremendous cheering! Huzzah! Huzzah! shouted the immense audience, completely electrified by these inspiring words. Huzzah! for the intrepid Ferguson cried one of the most excitable of the enthusiastic crowd. The wildest cheering resounded on all sides. The name of Ferguson was in every mouth, and we may safely believe that it lost nothing in passing through English throats. Indeed, the hall fairly shook with it. And there were present also those fearless travelers and explorers whose energetic temperaments had borne them through every quarter of the globe, many of them grown old and worn out in the service of science. All had, in some degree, physically or morally, undergone the sores trials. They had escaped shipwreck, conflagration, Indian tomahawks, and war clubs, the faggot and the steak, nay, even the cannibal mawls of the South Sea islanders, but still their hearts beat high during Sir Francis M's address, which certainly was the finest oratorical success that the Royal Geographical Society of London had yet achieved. But in England enthusiasm does not stop short with mere words. It strikes off money faster than the dyes of the Royal Mint itself. So subscription to encouraged Dr. Ferguson was voted there and then, and it at once attained the handsome amount of two thousand five hundred pounds. The sum was made commensurate with the importance of the enterprise. A member of the Society then inquired of the President whether Dr. Ferguson was not to be officially introduced. The doctor is at the disposition of the meeting, replied Sir Francis. Let him come in then. Bring him in, shout at the audience. We'd like to see a man of such extraordinary daring, face to face. Perhaps this incredible proposition of his is only intended to mystify us, grout and apoplectic old admiral. Suppose that there should turn out to be no such person as Dr. Ferguson, exclaimed another voice with a malicious clang. Why, then, we'd have to invent one, replied a facetious member of this grey society. Asked Dr. Ferguson to come in was the quiet remark of Sir Francis M., and come in the doctor did, and stood there, quite unmoved by the thunders of applause that greeted his appearance. He was a man of about forty years of age, of medium height and physique. His sanguine temperament was disclosed in the deep colour of his cheeks. His countenance was coldly expressive, with regular features, and a large nose. One of those noses that resembled the prowl of a ship, and stamped the faces of men, predestined to accomplish great discoveries. His eyes which were gentle and intelligent, rather than bold, led a peculiar charm to his physiognomy. His arms were long, and his feet were planted with that solidity which indicates a great pedestrian. A calm gravity seemed to surround the doctor's entire person, and no one would dream that he would become the agent of any mystification, however harmless. Hence the applause that greeted him at the outset continued until he, with a friendly gesture, claimed silence on his own behalf. He stepped towards the seat that had been prepared for him on his presentation, and then standing erect and motionless, he, with a determined glance, pointed his right forefinger upward, and pronounced aloud the single word, excelsior! Never had one of Bright's or Cobden's sudden onslaughts never had one of Palmerston's abrupt demands for funds to plate the rocks of the English coast with iron, made such a sensation. Sir Francis M's address was completely overshadowed. The doctor had shown himself moderate, sublime, and self-contained. In one he had uttered the word of the situation, excelsior! The gouty old admiral who had been finding fault was completely won over by the singular man before him, and immediately moved the insertion of Dr. Figgins' speech in The Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society of London. Who then was this person, and what was the other prize that he proposed? Ferguson's father, a brave and worthy captain in the English navy, had associated his son with him from the young man's earliest years in the perils and adventures of his profession. The fine little fellow, who seemed to have never known the meaning of fear, early revealed a keen and active mind, an investigating intelligence, and a remarkable term for scientific study. Moreover, he disclosed uncommon address in extricating himself from difficulty. He was never perplexed, not even in handling his fork for the first time, an exercise in which children generally have so little success. His fancy kindled early at the recitals he heard of daring enterprise and maritime adventure, and he followed with enthusiasm discoveries that signalized the first part of the nineteenth century. He mused over the glory of the mongo parks, the bruises, the calies, the levalans, and to some extent I verily believe of Selkirk, Robinson Crusoe, whom he considered in no wise inferior to the rest, how many a well-employed hour he's passed with that hero on his isle of Juan Fernandez. Often he criticized the ideas of the shipwreck sailor, and sometimes discussed his plans and projects. He would have done differently in such and such a case, or quite as well as at least, of that he felt assured. But of one thing he was satisfied, that he never should have left that pleasant island, where he was as happy as a king without subjects. No, not if the inducement held out had been promotion to the first lordship in the admiralty. It may rarely be conjectured whether these tendencies were developed during a youth of adventure spent in every nook and corner of the globe. Moreover, his father, who was a man of thorough instruction, omitted no opportunity to consolidate this keen intelligence by serious studies in hydrography, physics, and mechanics, along with a slight tincture of botany, medicine, and astronomy. On the death of the esteemed captain, Samuel Ferguson, then twenty-two years of age, had already made his voyage around the world. He had enlisted in the Bengali's corps of engineers, and distinguished himself in several affairs. But this soldier's life had not exactly suited him. Caring but little for command, he had not been fond of obeying. He therefore, sent in his regalination, and half botanizing, and half playing the hunter, he made his way toward the north of the Indian peninsula, and crossed it from Calcutta to Surat, and veer amateur trip for him. From Surat we see him going over to Australia, and in 1845 participating in Captain Sturt's expedition, which had been sent out to explore the new Caspian Sea, supposed to exist in the center of New Holland. Samuel Ferguson returned to England about 1850, and, more than ever possessed by the demon of discovery, he spent the intervening time until 1853 in accompanying Captain McClure on the expedition that went around the American continent from Bering Straits to Captain Farewell. Notwithstanding fatigues of every description, and in all climates, Ferguson's constitution continued marvelously sound. He felt at ease in the midst of the most complete privations. In fine he was the very type of the thoroughly accomplished explorer, whose stomachs expand or contracts at will, whose limbs grow longer or shorter according to the resting place that each stage of a journey may bring, who can fall asleep at any hour of the day or awake at any hour of the night. Nothing then was less surprising after that than to find our traveller in the period from 1855 to 1857, visiting the whole region west of the Thibet, in company with the brothers Schlagan-Tweit, and bringing back some curious ethnographic observations from that expedition. During these different journeys, Ferguson had been the most active and interesting correspondent of the Daily Telegraph, the petty newspaper whose circulation amounts to 140,000 copies, and yet scarcely suffices for its many legions of readers. Thus the doctor had become well known to the public, although he could not claim membership in either of the Royal Geographical Societies of London, Paris, Berlin, Vienna, or St. Petersburg, or yet with the Travellers' Club, or even the Royal Polytechnic Institute, where his friend the statistician Cockburn ruled in state. The latter savant had one day gone so far as to propose to him the following problem. Given the number of miles traveled by the doctor in making the circuit of the globe, how many more had his head described than his feet by reason of the different lengths of their radii, or the number of miles traversed by the doctor's head and feet respectively being given, required the exact height of that gentleman. This was done with the idea of complimenting him, but the doctor had held himself aloof from all the learned bodies, belonging as he did to the Church militant and not to the Church polemical. He found his time better employed in seeking than in discussing, in discovering rather than discoursing. There was a story told of an Englishman who came one day to Geneva, intending to visit the lake. He was placed in one of those odd vehicles in which the passengers sit side by side, as they do at an omnibus. Well, it so happened that the Englishman got a seat that left him with his back turned toward the lake. The vehicle completed its circular trip without his thinking to turn around once, and he went back to London delighted with the Lake of Geneva. Dr. Ferguson, however, had turned around a look about him on his journeyings, and turned to such good purpose that he had seen a great deal. In doing so, he had simply obeyed the laws of his nature, and we have good reason to believe that he was, to some extent, a fatalist, but of an orthodox school of fatalism with all, that led him to rely upon himself and even a prompt providence. He claimed that he was impelled, rather than drawn by his own volition, to journey as he did, and that he traversed the world like the locomotive, which does not direct itself, but is guided and directed by the track it runs on. I did not follow my route, he often said. It is my route that follows me. The reader will not be surprised, then, of the calmness with which the doctor received the applause that welcomed him in the royal society. He was above all such trifles, having no pride and less vanity. He looked upon the proposition addressed to him by Sir Francis M. as the simplest thing in the world, and scarcely noticed the immense effect that it produced. When the session closed, the doctor was escorted to the rooms of the Travelers Club in Paul Mall. The superb entertainment had been prepared there at his honour. The dimensions of the dish he served were made to correspond with the importance of the personage entertained, and the bold sturgeon that figured at this magnificent repast was not an inch shorter than Dr. Ferguson himself. Numerous toasts were offered in Croft in the wines of France to the celebrated travelers who had made their names illustrious by their explorations of African territory. The guests drank to their health or to their memory in alphabetical order, a good old English way of doing the thing. Among those remembered thus were Abadi, Adams, Adamson, Anderson, Arnold, Baikey, Baldwin, Barth, Batuda, Beak, Beltram, Duberba, Pimbachi, Bolognese, Bolwick, Belzoni, Bonamane, Bresson, Brown, Bruce, Brunelay, Burchell, Burkhart, Burton, Kailand, Kaili, Campbell, Chapman, Clapperton, Klotbey, Colombeau, Creval, Cumming, Cooney, Debono, Deccan, Denim, DeSaranche, Dixon, Dixon, Duchard, Duchel, Ducan, Durand, Duro, Duverrier, Deskayak, DeLote, Ernaut, Ferret, Fresnel, Galignier, Galton, Geoffrey, Golbrie, Han, Homme, Harnier, Heckart, Houglain, Horniman, Houten, Imbert, Kaufman, Nobleck, Graf, Coomer, Lafargue, Laine, Lafay, Lambert, Lamerl, Lampier, John Lander, Richard Lander, Lefebvre, Blanchon, Levalian, Livingston, McCarthy, Maguillard, Maison, Malzac, Moffat, Mullien, Montero, Morrison, Mungo Park, Neemans, Overwegg, Pannet, Parterio, Pascal, Perse, Petty, Penny, Patrick, Ponset, Prax, Refinal, Rab, Rebman, Richardson, Riley, Richie, Rocher, Dericourt, Rangari, Rocher, Rupel, Sonier, Speek, Steadier, Thibault, Thompson, Tordon, Toul, Tunzi, Trotter, Tucky, Turwitt, Vaudy, Vesier, Vincent, Vinko, Vogo, Wohlberg, Orenton, Washington, Warren, Wilde, and last but not least, Dr. Ferguson, who, by his incredible attempt, was to link together the achievements of all these explorers and complete the series of African Discovery. End of Chapter 1 of Five Weeks in a Balloon. Recorded by Alex C. Tolander, Davis, California. Chapter 2 of Five Weeks in a Balloon. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Alex C. Tolander, Davis, California. Five Weeks in a Balloon, or Journeys and Discoveries in Africa by Three Englishmen, by Jules Verne, translated by William Lackland. The article in the Daily Telegraph, War Between the Scientific Journals, Mr. Petta-Man Backs' Friend Dr. Ferguson, Reply of the Savant Conor, Bets Made, Sundry Propositions Offered to the Doctor. On the next day, in its number of January 15th, the Daily Telegraph published an article, crouched in the following terms. Africa is, at length, about to surrender the secret of her vast solitudes. Her modern edifice is to give us the key to that enigma, which the learned men of sixty centuries have not been able to decipher. In other days, to seek the sources of denial, Fonce Nilly-Quarelle was regarded as a mad endeavor, a chimera that could not be realized. Dr. Barth, in following out to Sudan, the track traced by Denim and Clapperton, Dr. Livingston in multiplying his fearless explorations from the Cape of Good Hope to the Basin of the Zambezi, captains Burton and Speak, in the discovery of the Great Interior Lakes, have opened three highways to modern civilization. Their point of intersection, which no traveler has yet been able to reach, is the very heart of Africa, and it is thither that all efforts should now be directed. The labors of these hardy pioneers of science are now about to be knit together, by the daring project of Dr. Samuel Ferguson, whose fine explorations our readers have frequently had the opportunity of appreciating. The intrepid discoverer proposes to traverse all Africa from east to west in a balloon. If we are well informed, the point of departure for this surprising journey is to be the island of Zanzibar, upon the eastern coast. As for the point of arrival, it is reserved for Providence alone to desig date. The proposal for this scientific undertaking was officially made yesterday at the ruins of the Royal Geographical Society, and the sum of £2,500 was voted to defray the expenses of the enterprise. We shall keep our readers informed as to the progress of this enterprise, which is no precedent in the annals of exploration. As may be supposed, the foregoing article had an enormous echo among scientific people. At first it stirred up the stover and credulity. Dr. Ferguson passed for a purely numerical personage of the Barnum stamp, who, after having gone through the United States, proposed to do the British Isles. A humorous reply appeared in the February number of the bulletins de la Société Géographique of Geneva, which very wittily showed up the Royal Society of London and their phenomenal sturgeon. But Herr Pettiman, in his Mithai Lugan published at Gotha, produced the Geneva Journal to the most absolute silence. Herr Pettiman knew Dr. Ferguson personally, and guaranteed the intrepidity of his dauntless friend. Besides, all matter of doubt was quickly put out of the question. Preparations for the trip were set on foot at London. The factories of Lyon received a heavy order for the silk required for the body of the balloon. And finally the British Government placed the transport ship Resolute, Captain Bennett, at the disposal of the expedition. At once, upon word of all this, a thousand encouragements were offered, and felicitations came pouring in from all quarters. The details of the undertaking were published in full in the bulletins of the Geographical Society of Paris. A remarkable article appeared in the Nouvelle Anal de Voyage de la Geographie de l'histoire et de l'archéologie de M.V.A. Malt-Brune. New Animals a Traveled Geography, History and Archaeology by M.V.A. Malt-Brune. And a searching essay in the Zeitschrift für Allemagne Ödkunde by Dr. W. Köhne triumphally demonstrated the feasibility of the journey, its chances of success, the nature of the obstacles existing, the immense advantages of the aerial mode of locomotion, and found fault with nothing but the selected point of departure, which it intended should be Massoua, a small port in Abyssinia, whence James Bruce, in 1768, started upon his explorations in search of the sources of the Nile. Apart from that it mentioned in terms of unreserved admiration, the energetic character of Dr. Ferguson, and the heart, thrice-panoplete in bronze, that could conceive and undertake such an enterprise. The North American review could not, without some displeasure, contemplate so much glory monopolized by England. It therefore rather ridiculed the doctor's scheme, and urged him by all means to push his explorations as far as America, while he was about it, and a word without going over all the journals in the world. There was not a scientific publication from the Journal of Evangelical Missions to the review Algerienne et coloniale, from the annals de la provocation de la foi, to the church missionary intelligences that had not something to say about the affair in all its phases. Many large bets were made at London, and throughout England generally, first as to the real or suppositious existence of Dr. Ferguson, secondly as to the trip itself, which some contended would not be undertaken at all, and which was rarely contemplated according to others, thirdly upon the success of failure of the enterprise, and fourthly upon the probabilities of Dr. Ferguson's return. The betting books were covered with entries of immense sums, as though the Epson races were at stake. Thus believers and unbelievers, the learned and the ignorant alike, had their eyes fixed on the doctor, and he became the lion of the day, without knowing that he carries such a mane. On his part he willingly gave the most accurate information touching his project. He was very easily approached, being naturally the most affable man in the world. More than one bold adventurer presented himself, offering to share the dangers as well as the glory of the undertaking, but he refused them all, without giving his reasons for rejecting them. Numerous inventors of mechanism of applicable to the guidance of balloons came to propose their systems, but he would accept none, and when he was asked whether he had discovered something of his own for that purpose, he constantly refused to give any explanation, and merely visit himself more actively than ever with the preparations for his journey. End of Chapter 2 of Five Weeks in a Balloon. Recording by Alexi Tallander. Journeys and Discoveries in Africa by Three Englishmen by Jules Verne Translated by William Lackland Chapter 3 The Doctor's Friend The origin of their friendship Dick Kennedy at London An unexpected but not very consoling proposal A proverb by no means cherry A few names from the African Martyrology The advantages of a balloon Dr. Ferguson's Secret Dr. Ferguson had a friend. Not another self, indeed, an alter ego for friendship could not exist between two beings exactly alike. But if they possessed different qualities, aptitudes, and temperaments, Dick Kennedy and Samuel Ferguson lived with one and the same heart, and that gave them no great trouble, in fact quite the reverse. Dick Kennedy was a Scotchman, in the full acceptance of the word, open, resolute, and headstrong. He lived in the town of Leith, which is near Edinburgh, and in truth is a mere suburb of Ald Riki. Sometimes he was a fisherman, but he was always and everywhere a determined hunter, and that was nothing remarkable for a son of Caledonia, who had known some little climbing among the Highland Mountains. He was cited as a wonderful shot with the rifle, since not only could he split a bullet on a knife blade, but he could divide it into two such equal parts that, upon weighing them, scarcely any difference would be perceptible. Kennedy's countenance, strikingly called that of Herbert Glenn Dinning, as Sir Walter Scott depicted it in the monastery. His stature was above six feet, full of grace and easy movement. He had seemed gifted with Herculian strength, a face in brown by the sun, eyes keen and black, a natural air of daring courage, in fine, something sound, solid, and reliable, and his entire person spoke, at first glance, in favour of the body-Scott. The acquaintanceship of these two friends had been formed in India when they belonged to the same regimen. While Dick would be out on pursuit of the tiger and the elephant, Samuel would be in search of plants and insects. Each could call himself expert in his own province, and more than one rare botanical specimen, that the science was as great a victory one as the conquest of a pair of ivory tusks, became the doctor's booty. These two young men, moreover, never had occasion to save each other's lives or to render any reciprocal service, hence an unalterable friendship. Destiny sometimes bore them apart, but sympathy always united them again. Since their return to England they had been frequently separated by the doctor's distant expeditions, but on his return the latter never failed to go, not to ask for hospitality, but to bestow some weeks of his presence at the home of his crony dick. The Scott talked to the past, the doctor busily prepared for the future. The one looked back, the other forward, hence a restless spirit personified in Ferguson. Perfect calmness typified in Kennedy, such was the contrast. After his journey to the sabbath, the doctor had remained nearly two years without hinting at new explorations, and Dick, supposing that his friend's instinct for travel and thirst for adventure, at a length died out, was perfectly enchanted. They would have ended badly, some day or other, he thought to himself, no matter what experience one has with men, one does not travel always with impunity among cannibals and wild beasts. So Kennedy besought the doctor to tie up his bark for life, having done enough for science, and too much for the gratitude of men. The doctor contended himself with making no reply to this. He remained absorbed in his own reflections, giving himself up to secret calculations, passing his nights among heaps of figures and making experiments for the strangest-looking machinery, inexplicable to everybody but himself. It could readily be guessed, though, that some great thought was fermenting in his brain. What can he have been planning, wanted Kennedy, when in the month of January his friend put him to return to London. He found out one warning when he looked in the Daily Telegraph. Mercyful Heaven, he exclaimed, the lunatic, the madman, cross Africa in a balloon. Nothing but that was wanted to cap the climax. That's what he's been bothering his wits about these two years past. Now, reader, substitute for all these exclamation points as many ringing thumbs with a brawny fist upon the table, and you have some idea of the manual exercise the dick went through while he thus spoke. When his confidential maid of all work, the agent, Elspeth, tried to insinuate that the whole thing might be a host. Not a bit of it, he said he. Don't I know my man? Isn't it just like him? Travel through the air. There now. He's jealous of the eagles. Next. No, I warned you. He'll not do it. I'll find a way to stop him. He, why, if they'd let him alone, and he'd start the day for the moon. On that very evening, Kennedy, half alarmed and half exasperated, took the train to London where he arrived next morning. Three quarters of an hour later a cab deposited him at the door of the doctor's modest dwelling in Soho Square, Greek Street. Fourth with he bounded up the steps and announced his arrival with five good hearty sounding raps at the door. Ferguson opened in person. Dick, you hear? He exclaimed, with no great expression of surprise after all. Dick himself was the response. What, my dear boy, you at London? And this the mid-season of the winter shooting? Yes, here I am, at London. And what have you come to town for? To prevent the greatest piece of folly that ever was conceived. Folly, said the doctor. It's what this paper says, the truth. Rejoin, Kennedy, holding out the copy of the Daily Telegraph mentioned above. Ah, that's what you mean, is it? These new papers are great toddlers. But sit down, my dear Dick. No, I won't sit down. Then you really intend to attempt this journey? Most certainly. All my preparations are getting along finally, and I—where are your traps? Let me have a chance at them. I'll make them fly. I'll put your preparations in fine order. And so, saying, the gallant Scott gave way to a genuine explosion of wrath. Come, be calm, my dear Dick. Resume the doctor. You're angry at me because I do not acquaint you with my new project. He calls this his new project. I have been very busy, the doctor went on, without heeding the interruption. I have had so much to look after, but rest assured that I should not have started without writing to you. Oh, indeed, I am highly honoured, because it is my intention to take you with me. Upon this the Scotchman gave a leaf that a wild goat would not have been ashamed of among his native crags. Ah, really, then, you want them to send us both to bedlam? I have counted positively upon you, my dear Dick, and I have picked you out from all the rest. Kennedy said speechless with amazement. I have been listening to me for ten minutes, said the doctor. You will thank me. Are you speaking seriously? Very seriously. And suppose that I refuse to go with you. But you won't refuse. But suppose that I were to refuse. Well, I'd go alone. Let us sit down, said Kennedy, and talk without excitement. The moment you gave up jesting about it, we can discuss the thing. Let us discuss it, then, at breakfast, if you have no objections, my dear Dick. The two friends took their seats opposite to each other, at a little table with a plate of toast, and a huge tea before them. My dear Samuel, said this sportsman, your project is insane. It is impossible. It has no resemblance to anything reasonable or practical. That's for us to find out when we shall have tried it. But trying it is exactly what you ought not to attempt. Why so, if you please? Well, the risks, the difficulty of the thing. As for difficulties, replied Ferguson, in a serious tone, they were made to be overcome. As for risks and danger, who conflated himself that he is to escape them? Everything in life involves danger. It may even be dangerous to sit down at one's own table, or to put one's hat on one's own head. Moreover, we must look upon what is to occur as having already occurred, and see nothing but the present and the future. For the future is but the present a little farther on. There it is, exclaimed Kennedy, with a shrug. As great a fatalist as ever. Yes, but in the good sense of the word. Let us not trouble ourselves, then, about what fate has in store for us, and let us not forget our good old English proverb, the man who was born to be hung will never be drowned. There was no reply to make, but that did not prevent Kennedy from presuming a series of arguments which may be readily conjectured, for which were too long for us to repeat. Well, then, he said, after an hour's discussion, if you are absolutely determined to make this trip across the African continent, if it is necessary for your happiness, why not pursue the ordinary roots? Why, Jackley the Doctor, growing inanimated? Because all attempts to do so up to this time have utterly failed, because from Mungo Park, assassinated on the Niger, to Vogel, who disappeared in the Wadai country, from Undi, who died at Murmer, and Clapperton lost at Sakatou, to the Frenchman Maison, who was cut to pieces, from Major Lang, killed by the Tuaregs, to Russia, from Hamburg, massacred in the beginning of 1860. The names of victim after victim have been ascribed in the lists of African martyrdom, because to contend successfully against the elements, against hunger, and thirst, and fever, against savage beasts, and still more savage men, is impossible, because what cannot be done in one way should be tried in another, and fine because what one cannot pass through directly in the middle must be passed by going to one side or overhead. If passing over it were the only question it opposed, Kennedy, but passing high up in the air, Doctor, there's the rub. Come, then, said the Doctor. What have I to fear? You'll admit that I have taken my precautions in such manner as to be certain that my balloon will not fall. But should it disappoint me, I should find myself on the ground, in the normal conditions imposed upon other explorers. But my balloon will not deceive me, and we need to make no such calculations. Yes, you must take them into view. No, Dick, I intend not to be separated from the balloon until I reach the western coast of Africa. With it, everything is possible. Without, I fall back into the dangers and difficulties, as well as the natural obstacles that ordinarily attend such an expedition. With it, neither heat, nor torrents, nor tempests, nor the sumoom, nor unhealthy climates, nor wild animals, nor savage men are to be feared. If I feel too hot, I can descend. If I too cold, I can come down. Should there be a mountain, I can pass over it. A precipice, I can sweep across it. A river, I can sail beyond it. A storm, I can rise away above it. A torrent, I can skim it like a bird. I can advance without fatigue. I can halt without need of repose. I can soar above the nascent cities. I can speed onward with the rapidity of a tornado. Sometimes at the loftiest heights, sometimes only a hundred feet above the soil, while the map of Africa unrolls itself beneath my gaze in the great atlas of the world. Even the stubborn Kennedy began to feel moved, and yet the spectacle thus conjured up before him gave him the vertigo. He riveted his eyes upon the doctor with wonder and admiration, and yet with fear he already felt himself swinging aloft in space. Come, come, said he at last. Let us see, Samuel. Then you have discovered the means of guiding a balloon? Not by any means. That is a utopian idea. Then you will go, whether so ever, providence wills, but at all events, from east to west. Why so? Because I expect to avail myself of the trade winds, the direction of which is always the same. Ah, yes, indeed, said Kennedy, reflecting. The trade winds, yes, truly, one might— there is something in that. Something in it, yes, my excellent friend. There is everything in it. The English government has placed a transport at my transposal, and three or four vessels utter crews off the western coast of Africa about the presumed period of my arrival. In three months, at most, I shall be at Zanzibar, where I will inflate my balloon, and for that point we shall launch ourselves. We, said Dick, have you still a shadow of an objection to offer? Speak, friend Kennedy. At objection, I have a thousand, but among other things tell me if you expect to see the country. If you expect to mount and descend at pleasure, you cannot do so without losing your gas. Up to this time no other means have been devised, and it is this that has always prevented long journeys in the air. My dear Dick, I have only one word to answer. I shall not lose one particle of gas. I need you can descend when you please. I shall descend when I please. And how will you do that? Aha! Therein lies my secret, friend Dick. Have faith, and let my device be yours. Excelsior! Excelsior be it, then, said the sportsman, who did not understand a word of Latin. He had made up his mind to oppose his friend's departure by all means and his power, and so pretended to give in, at the same time keeping on the watch. As for the doctor, he went undiligently with his preparations. CHAPTER IV AFRICAN EXPLORATIONS The aerial line which Dr. Ferguson counted upon following had not been chosen at random. His pointed departure had been carefully studied, and it was not without good cause that he had resolved to ascend to the island of Zanzibar. This island, lying near to the east and coast of Africa, is in the sixth degree of south latitude. That is to say, 430 geographical miles below the equator. From this island, the latest expedition, sent by way of the Great Lakes to explore the sources of the Nile, had just set out. But it would be well to indicate what explorations Dr. Ferguson hoped to link together. The two principal ones were those of Dr. Barth in 1849, and of Lieutenants Burton and Speek in 1858. Dr. Barth is a hamburger, who obtained permission for himself and for his countrymen overwork to join the expedition of the English written in Richardson. The latter was charged with a mission in the Sudan. This vast region is situated between the 15th and 10th degrees of north latitude. That is to say, that in order to approach it, the explorer must penetrate 1500 miles into the interior of Africa. Until then, the country in question had been known only through the journeys of Denim, of Clapperton, and of Odney, made from 1822 to 1824. Richardson, Barth, and Ovalreg, jealously anxious to push their investigation's father, arrived at Tunis and Tripoli, like their predecessors, and got as far as Mourzouk, the capital of Faizan. They then abandoned the perpendicular line and made a sharp turn westward toward Gatt, guided with difficulty by the Tuaregs. After a thousand scenes of pillage, eviction, and attacks by armed forces, their caravan arrived in October at the vast oases of Aspen. Dr. Barth separated from his companions, made an excursion to the town of Agades, and rejoined the expedition, which resumed its march on the 12th of December. At length it reached the province of Demergu, there the three travelers parted, and Barth took the road to Canel, where he arrived by dint of perseverance, and after paying considerable tribute. In spite of an intense fever, he quitted that place on the 7th of March, accompanied by a single servant. The principal aim of his journey was to reconnoitre Lake Chad, from which he was still 350 miles distance. He therefore advanced toward the east and reached the town of Zuricholo, in the Bornu County, which is the core of the great central empire of Africa. There he herded the death of Richardson, who had succumbed to fatigue and privation. He next arrived at Kuka, the capital of Bornu, on the borders of the lake. Finally, at the end of three weeks, on the 14th of April, twelve months after having quitted Tripoli, he reached the town of Ungomo. We find him again setting forth, on the 29th of March, 1851, with overwork, to visit the kingdom of Ademo, to the south of the lake, and from there he pushed on as far as the town of Yola, a little below 9 degrees north latitude. This was the extreme southern limit reached by that daring traveller. He returned in the month of August to Kuka. From there he successfully traversed the Mandara, Bargimi, and Klanem Countries, and reached his extreme limit in the east, the town of Massena, situated at 17 degrees 20 minutes west longitude. On the 25th of November, 1852, after the death of overwork, his last companion, he plunged into the west, visited Sokoto, crossed the Niger, and finally reached Timbuktu, where he had to languish during eight long months, under vexations inflicted upon him by the sheik, and all kinds of ill-treatment and wretchedness. But the presence of a Christian in the city could not long be tolerated, and the Fulans threatened to besiege it. The doctor, therefore, left it on the 17th of March, 1854, and fled to the frontier, where he remained for thirty-three days in the most abject institution. He then managed to get back to Kano in November, thence to Kuka, where he resumed Denon's route after four months' delay. He again tripled toward the close of August, 1855, and arrived in London on the 6th of September, the only survivor of his party. Such was the venturesome journey of Dr. Barth. Dr. Ferguson carefully noted the fact that he had stopped at four degrees north latitude and seventeen degrees west longitude. Now let us see what lieutenants burdened and speak accomplished in eastern Africa. The various expeditions that had scented denial could never manage to reach the mysterious source of that river. According to the narrative of the German doctor, Friede Nan Verne, the expedition attempted in 1840, under the auspices of Mehmet Ali, stopped at Gondokoro, between the fourth and fifth parallels of north latitude. In 1855, Brunroulé, a native of Savoy, appointed consul for Sardinia in eastern Sudan to take the place of Vaudet, who had just died, set out from Khartoum, and under the name of Yakub, the merchant, trading in gums and ivory, got as far as Belenia, beyond the fourth degree, but had to return in ill health to Khartoum, where he died in 1857. Neither Dr. Penny, the head of the Egyptian medical service, who, in a small steamer, penetrated one degree beyond Gondokoro, and then came back to die of exhaustion at Khartoum, nor Miani, the Venetian, who, turning the catarchs below Gondokoro, reached the second parallel, nor the Maltese trader, Andrea de Bono, who pushed his journey up the Nile still farther, could work their way beyond the apparently impassable limit. In 1859, M. Gilon Lejean, entrusted with admission by the French government, reached Khartoum by way of the Red Sea, and embarked upon the Nile with a retinue of twenty-one hired men and twenty soldiers, but he could not get past Gondokoro, and ran extreme risk of his life among the Negorah tribes, who were in full revolt. The expedition, directed by M. Deskayak, de La Tour, made an equally unsuccessful attempt to reach the famous sources of the Nile. This fatal limit invariably brought every traveler to a halt. In ancient times, the ambassadors of Nira reached the ninth degree of latitude, but in 18th centuries, only from five to six degrees, or from three hundred to three hundred and sixty geographical miles, were gained. Many travelers endeavored to reach the sources of the Nile by taking their point of departure on the eastern coast of Africa. Between 1768 and 1772, the Scotch traveler, Bruce, set out for Masoa, a port of Abyssinia, traversed the Tigre, visited the ruins of Aksum, saw the sources of the Nile where they did not exist, and obtained no serious result. In 1844, Dr. Krapf, an American missionary, founded an establishment at Mombaz on the coast of Zangueba and, in company with the Reverend Dr. Rebman, discovered two mountain ranges, three hundred miles from the coast. These were the mountains of Kilimanjaro and Kenya, which measures de Hoeglin and Thornton had partly scaled so recently. In 1845, Maizan, the French explorer, disembarked alone at Bagamayo, directly opposite to Zanzibar, and got as far as Deje-Lamora, where the chief caused him to be put to death in the most cruel torment. In 1859, in the month of August, the young traveler, Russia, from Harohamburg, set out with a caravan of Arab merchants, reached Lake Nyasa, and was there assassinated while he slept. Finally, in 1857, lieutenants Burden and Speek, both officers in the Bengal Army, were sent by the London Geographical Society to explore the great African lakes, and on the 17th of June, they quitted Zanzibar and plunged directly into the west. After four months of incredible suffering, their baggage having been pillaged, and their terendants beaten and slain, they arrived at Kazeh, a sort of central rendezvous for traders and caravans. They were in the midst of the country of the moon, and there they collected some precious documents concerning the manners, government, religion, fauna, and flora of the region. The annex made for the first of the great lakes, the one named Tanganyika, situated between the 3rd and 8th degrees of South latitude. They reached down on 14th of February, 1858, and visited the various tribes residing on its banks, the most of whom are cannibals. They departed again on the 26th of May, and re-entered Kazeh on the 20th of June. There, Burden, who was completely worn out, lay ill for several months, during which time Speek made a push to the north-wood of more than 300 miles, going as far as Lake Okarokua, where he came in sight of on the 3rd of August, but he could describe only the opening of it at latitude, 2 degrees, 30 minutes. He reached Kazeh on his return, on the 20th of August, and, in company with Burden, again took up the route to Zanzibar, where they arrived in the month of March, in the following year. These two daring explorers then re-embarked for England and the Geographic Society of Paris to creed them its annual prize medal. Dr. Ferguson carefully remarked that they had not gone beyond the 2nd degree of South latitude, nor the 29th degree of East longitude. The problem, therefore, was how to link the explorations of Burden and Speek with those of Dr. Barth, since to do so was to undertake the Tritiverse an extent of more than 12 degrees of territory. Recording by Alex C. Tallander, Davis, California. Dr. Ferguson energetically pushed the preparations for his departure, and in person superintended the construction of his balloon, with certain modifications, in regard to which he observed the most absolute silence. For a long time past, he had been applying himself to the study of the Arab language in the various Mandingo idioms, and thanks to his talents as a polyglot, he had made rapid progress. In the meanwhile, his friend, the sportsman, never let him out of his sight, afraid, no doubt, that the doctor might take his departure without saying a word to anybody. On this subject, he regaled him with the most persuasive arguments, which, however, did not persuade Samuel Ferguson, and wasted his breath in pathetic entreaties, by which the latter seemed to be but slightly moved. In fine, Dick felt that the doctor was slipping through his fingers. The poor Scott was really to be pitted. He could not look upon the azure vault without a somber terror. When asleep, he felt oscillations that made his head real, and every night he had visions of being swung aloft at immeasurable heights. We must add that, during these fearful nightmares, he once or twice fell out of bed. His first care, then, was to show Ferguson a severe contusion that he had received on the cranium, and yet he would add, with warmth, that was at the height of only three feet, not an inch more, and such a bump as this? Only think, then. This insinuation, full of sad meaning as it was, did not seem to touch the doctor's heart. Will not fall, was his invariable reply. But still, suppose that we were to fall. We will not fall. This was decisive, and Kennedy had nothing more to say. What particularly exasperated Dick was that the doctor seemed completely to lose sight of his personality of his, Kennedy's, and to look upon him as irrevocably destined to become his aerial companion. Not even the shadow of doubt was ever suggested, and Samuel made an intolerable misuse of the first person plural. We are getting along. We shall be ready on the… We shall start on the… etc. etc. And then there was the singular possessive adjective, our balloon, our car, our expedition, and the same in the plural, too, our preparations, our discoveries, our ascensions. Dick shouted at them, although he was determined not to go, but he did not want to annoy his friend. Let us also disclose the fact that, without knowing exactly why himself, he had sent to Edinburgh for a certain selection of heavy clothing, and his best hunting gear and firearms. One day, after having admitted that, with an overwhelming run of good luck, there might be one chance of success in a thousand. He pretended to yield entirely to the doctor's wishes, but in order to still put off the journey, he opened the most varied series of subterfuges. He threw himself back upon questioning the utility of the expedition, its opportunists, etc. This discovery, the sources of the Nile, was it likely to be of any use, would one have really labored for the welfare of humanity? When, after all, the African tribe should have been civilized, would they be any happier? Were folk certain that civilization had not its chosen abode there rather than in Europe? Perhaps, and then couldn't one wait a little longer? The trip across Africa would certainly be accomplished some day, and in a less hazardous manner. In another month, or in six months before the year was over, some explorer would undoubtedly come in, etc., etc. These hints produced an effect exactly opposite to what was desired or intended, and the doctor trembled with impatience. Are you willing then, wretched Dick? Are you willing, false friend, that this glory should belong to another? Might I then be untrue to my past history? Recoil before obstacles that are not serious? Require with caroling hesitation what both the English Government and the Royal Society of London have done for me? But, resume Kennedy, who made great use of that conjunction. But, said the doctor, are you not aware that my journey is to compete with the success of the expeditions now on foot? Don't you know that fresh explorers are advancing towards the center of Africa? Still, listen to me, Dick, and cast your eyes over that map. Dick glanced over it with resignation. Now, ascend the course of the Nile. I have ascended it, replied the Scotchman, with docility. Stop at Gondokoro. I am there, and Kennedy thought to himself, how easy such a trip was on the map. Now, take one of the points of these dividers, and let it rest upon that place beyond which the most daring explorers have scarcely gone. I have done so. And now look along the coast for the island of Zanzibar, in latitude six degrees south. I have it. Now, follow the same parallel, and arrive at Kazeh. I have done so. Run up again along the thirty-third degree of longitude, to the opening of Lake Ukarui, at the point where Luton and Speek had to halt. I am there, a little more, and I should have tumbled into the lake. Very good. Now, do you know what we have the right to suppose, according to the information given by the tribes that live along its shores? I haven't the least idea. Why, that this lake, the lower extremity of which is two in two degrees and thirty minutes, must extend also two degrees and a half above the equator. Really? Well, from this northern extremity, there flows a stream which must necessarily join the Nile, if it be not the Nile itself. That is indeed curious. Then, let the other point of view of the dividers rest upon that extremity of Lake Ukarui. It is done, friend Ferguson. Now, how many degrees can you count between the two points? Scarcely two. And do you know what that means, Dick? Not the least in the world. Why, that makes scarcely one hundred and twenty miles. In other words, a nothing. Almost nothing, Samuel. Well, do you know what is taking place at this moment? No, upon my horror I do not. Very well, then I'll tell you. The geographical society, regard as very important the exploration of this lake, of which Speek caught a glimpse. Under their auspices, Luton and now Captain Speek has associated with him Captain Grant of the Army in India. They have put themselves at the head of a numerous and well-equipped expedition. Their mission is to ascend the lake and return to Gondokoral. They have received a subsidy of more than five thousand pounds, and the governor of the Cape of Good Hope has placed hot-and-tot soldiers at their disposal. They set out from Zanzibar at the close of October, 1860. In the mean while John Petheric, the English consul of the city of Khartoum, has received about seven hundred pounds from the foreign office, he is to equip a steamer at Khartoum, stock it with sufficient precision, and make his way to Gondokoral. There he will await Captain Speek's caravan and be able to replenish its supplies to some extent. Well planned, said Kennedy. You can easily see, then, that time presses if we are to take part in these exploring labours, and that it's not all, since, while some are thus advancing with sure steps to the discovery of the sources of denial, others are penetrating to the very heart of Africa. On foot, said Kennedy. Yes, on foot, rejoined the doctor, without noticing the insinuation. Dr. Krapf proposes to push forward, in the west, by way of the job, a river lying under the equator. Baron de Diccan has already set out from Mombaz, has reconnoitred the mountains of Canaia and Kilimanjaro, and is now plunging in toward the centre. But all this time on foot? On foot or on mules? Exactly the same, so far as I am concerned, ejaculated Kennedy. Lastly, resumed the doctor. Ender Hoeglen, the Austrian vice-consult cartoon, has just organised a very important expedition, the first aim of which is to search for the travel of Vogel, who in 1853 was sent into the Sudan to associate himself with the labours of Dr. Barth. In 1856 he quitted Barneau and determined to explore the unknown territory that lies between Lake Chad and Darfur. Nothing has been seen of him since that time. Letters that were received in Alexandria in 1860 said that he was killed at the order of King of Wadi, but other letters, addressed by Dr. Hartman to the trevelous father, relate that, according to the recital of the Fredlata of Barneau, Vogel was merely held as a prisoner at Wawa. All hope is not then lost. Hence, a committee has been organised under the presidency of the region of Saks-Kogur-Gotha. My friend Peterman is the secretary. A national subscription has provided for the expense of the expedition, whose strength has been increased by the voluntary accession of several learned men at M. de Hoeglen set out from Asola in the month of June. While engaged in looking for Vogel, he is also to explore all the country between the Nile and Lake Chad. That is to say, to knit together the operations of Captain Speak and those of Dr. Barth, and then Africa will have been traversed from east to west. After the departure of Dr. Ferguson, it was ascertained that M. de Hoeglen, owing to some disagreement, took a route different from the other assigned to the expedition. The command of the latter having been transferred to Dr. Muenzinga. Well said the County Scott, since everything is getting on so well, what's the use of our going down there? Dr. Ferguson made no reply, but continued himself with the significant shrug of the shoulders. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Five weeks in a balloon, or journeys and discoveries in Africa, by three Englishmen, by Jules Verne, translated by William Lacklin. A servant. Match him. He can see the satellites of Jupiter. Dick and Joe hard at it. Doubt and faith. The weighing ceremony. Joe and Wellington. He gets a half-crown. Dr. Ferguson had a servant who answered with a lacquerty to the name of Joe. He was an excellent fellow who testified the most absolute confidence in his master, and the most unlimited devotion to his interests, even anticipating his wishes and orders, which were always intelligently executed. In fine he was a Caleb without the growling, and a perfect pattern of constant good humor. Had he been made of purpose for the place, it could not have been better done. Ferguson put himself entirely in his hands, so far as the ordinary details of existence were concerned, and he did well. Incomparable, whole-soul Joe, a servant who orders your dinner, who likes what you like, who packs your trunk without forgetting your socks or your linen, who has charged you your keys and your secrets, and takes no advantage of all of this. But then, what a man the doctor was in the eyes of this worthy Joe, with what respect and what confidence the latter received all his decisions. When Ferguson had spoken, he would be a fool who should attempt to question the manner. Everything he thought was exactly right. Everything he said, the perfection of wisdom. Everything he ordered to be done, quite feasible. All that he undertook, practicable. All that he accomplished, admirable. Yet might have cut Joe to pieces, not an agree more operation to be sure, and yet he would not have altered his opinion of his master. So when the doctor conceived the project of crossing Africa through the air, for Joe the thing was already done, obstacles no longer existed. From the moment when the doctor had made up his mind to start, he had arrived, along with his faithful attendant too, for the noble fellow knew, without a word uttered about it, that he will be one of the party. Moreover, he was just the man to render the greatest service by his intelligence and his wonderful agility. Had the occasion arisen to name a professor of gymnastics for the monkeys in the zoological garden, who are smart enough by the way, Joe would certainly have received the appointment, leaping, climbing, almost flying, these were all sport to him. If Ferguson was the head and Kennedy the arm, Joe was to be the right hand of the expedition. He had already accompanied his master on several journeys, and had a smattering of science appropriate to his condition and style of mind, that he was especially remarkable for a sort of mild philosophy, a charming turn of optimism. In his sight, everything was easy, logical, natural, and consequently he could see no use in complaining or grumbling. Among other gifts he possessed a strength and range of vision that were perfectly surprising. He enjoyed in common with Moslyn Kepler's professor, the rare faculty of distinguishing the satellites of Jupiter with the naked eye, and of counting fourteen of the stars in the group of Pleiades, there were motives to them being only of the ninth magnitude. He presumed none the more for that, on the contrary he made his bound to you at a distance, and when occasion arose he bravely knew how to use his eyes. Which such profound faith as Joe felt in the Doctor, it is not to be wondered at the incessant discussions sprang up between him and Kennedy without any lack of respect of the letter, however. One doubted, the other believed. One had a prudent foresight, the other blind confidence. The Doctor, however, vibrated between doubt and confidence. That is to say, he troubled his head with neither one nor the other. Well, Mr. Kennedy, Joe would say. Well, my boy, the moments at hand it seems that we are to sail for the moon. You mean the mountains of the moon, which are not quite so far off, but never mind, one trip is just as dangerous as the other. Dangerous? What, with a man like Dr. Ferguson? I don't want to spoil your illusions, my good Joe, but this undertaking of his is nothing more nor less than the act of a madman. He won't go, though. He won't go, eh? Then you haven't seen his balloon at Mitchell's factory in the borough. I'll take precious good care to keep away from it. Well, you lose a fine sight, sir. What a splendid thing it is. What a pretty shape. What a nice car. How snug we'll feel in it. Then you really think of going with your master? I, answered Joe, with an accent of profound conviction. Why, I'd go with him wherever he pleases. Whoever heard of such a thing. Leave him to go off alone after we've been all over the world together. Who would help him when he was tired? Who would give him a hand in climbing over the rocks? Who would attend him when he was sick? No, Mr. Kennedy. Joe will always stick to the doctor. You're a fine fellow, Joe. But then, you're coming with us? Oh, certainly, said Kennedy. That is to say, I will go with you up to the last moment, to prevent Samuel, even then, from being guilty of such an act of folly. I will follow him as far as Zanzibar, so as to stop him there, if possible. You'll stop nothing at all, Mr. Kennedy, with all respect to you, sir. My master is no harebrained person. He takes a long time to think over what he means to do, and then, when he once gets started, the evil one himself couldn't make him give it up. Well, we'll see about that. Don't flatter yourself, sir. But then, the main thing is to have you with us. For a hundred like you, sir, Africa's a great country. So either way, you won't be sorry for the trip. No, that's a fact. I shan't be sorry for it, if I can get this crazy man to give up his scheme. By the way, said Joe, you know that the weighing comes off today. The weighing? What weighing? Why, my master and you, and I are all to be weighed today. What, like horse-jockeys? Yes, like jockeys. Only never fear, you won't be expected to make yourself lean, if you're found to be heavy. You'll go as you are. While I can tell you, I am not going to let myself be weighed, said Kennedy, firmly. But, sir, it seems that the doctor's machine requires it. Well, his machine will have to do without it. Poof! And suppose that it couldn't go up, then? Eegah! That's all I want. Come, come, Mr. Kennedy. My master will be sending for us directly. I shan't go. Oh, now you won't vex the doctor in that way. I, that I will. Well, said Joe, with a laugh. You say that because he's not here. But when he says to your face, Dick, with all respect to you, sir, Dick, I want to know exactly how much you weigh. You'll go, I warrant it. No, I will not go. At this moment, the doctor entered his study, where this discussion had been taking place, and as he came in, cast a glance at Kennedy, who did not feel altogether a disease. Dick, said the doctor, come with Joe. I want to know how much you both weigh. But you may keep your head on. Come, and Kennedy went. They repaired, in the company, to the workshop of the Mezzers Mitchell, where one of those so-called Roman scales was in readiness. It was necessary, by the way, for the doctor to know the weight of his companions, so as to fix the equilibrium of his balloon, so he made Dick get up on the platform of the scales. The latter, without making any resistance, said in an undertone. Oh, well, that doesn't bind me to anything. One hundred and fifty-three pounds, said the doctor, noting it down in his tablets. Am I too heavy? Why, no, Mr. Kennedy, said Joe. And then, you know, I am light to make up for it. So saying, Joe, with enthusiasm, took its place on the scales, and very nearly upset them in his ready haste. He struck the attitude of Wellington, where he is made to ape Achilles, at Hyde Park entrance, and was superb in it, without the shield. One hundred and twenty pounds, wrote the doctor. Aha! said Joe, with a smile of satisfaction. And why did he smile? He never could tell himself. It's my turn now, said Ferguson, and he put down one hundred and thirty-five pounds to his own account. All three of us, said he, did not weigh much more than four hundred pounds. But, sir, said Joe, if it was necessary for your expedition, I could make myself thinner by twenty pounds, by not eating so much. Useless, my boy, replied the doctor. You may eat as much as you like, and here is half a crown to buy you the ballast. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Alex C. Tillander, Davis, CA. Five weeks in a balloon, or Journeys and Discoveries in Africa, by Three Englishmen, by Jules Verne, translated by William Lackland. Chapter 7 Geometrical Details Calculation of the Capacity of the Balloon The Double Receptacle The Covering The Car The Mysterious Apparatus The Provisions and Stores The Final Summing Up Dr. Ferguson had long been engaged upon the details of his expedition. It is easy to comprehend that the balloon, that marvelous vehicle which was to convey him through the air, was the constant object of his solicitude. At the outset, in order not to give the balloon two ponderous dimensions, he had decided to fill it with hydrogen gas, which is fourteen and a half times lighter than common air. The production of this gas is easy, and it has given the greatest satisfaction hitherto in aerostatic experiments. The doctor, according to very accurate calculations, found that, including the articles indispensable to his journey and his apparatus, he should have to carry a weight of four thousand pounds. Therefore, he had to find out what would be the essential force of a balloon capable of raising such a weight, and consequently what would be its capacity. A weight of four thousand pounds is represented by a displacement of the air amounting to forty-four thousand eight hundred and forty-seven cubic feet, or in other words, forty-four thousand eight hundred and forty-seven cubic feet of air weigh about four thousand pounds. By giving the balloon these cubic dimensions and filling it with hydrogen gas instead of common air, the former being fourteen and a half times lighter and weighing therefore only two hundred and seventy-six pounds, a difference of three thousand seven hundred and twenty-four pounds in equilibrium is produced. And it is this difference between the weight of the gas contained in the balloon and the weight of the surrounding atmosphere that constitutes the essential force of the former. However, where the forty-four thousand eight hundred and forty-seven cubic feet of gas, of which we speak, all introduced into the balloon, it will be entirely filled. But that would not do because, as the balloon continued to mount into the more rarefied layers of the atmosphere, the gas within would dilate and soon burst the cover containing it. Balloons then are usually only two-thirds filled, but the doctor, in carrying out a project known only to himself, resolved to fill his balloon only one-half, and since he had to carry forty-four thousand eight hundred and forty-seven cubic feet of gas to give his balloon nearly double capacity, he arranged it in that elongated oval shape would have come to be preferred. The horizontal diameter was fifty feet and the vertical diameter seventy-five feet. He thus obtained a spheroid, the capacity of which amounted in round numbers to ninety-thousand cubic feet. Could Dr. Ferguson have used two balloons, his chances of success would have been increased? For should one burst in the air, he could, by throwing out ballast, keep himself up with the other, but the management of two balloons would necessarily be very difficult in view of the problem to keep them both at an equal essential force. After having pondered the matter carefully, Dr. Ferguson, by an ingenious arrangement, combined the advantages of two balloons without incurring their inconveniences. He constructed two of different sizes and enclosed the smaller in the larger one. His external balloon, which had the dimensions even above, contained a less one of the same shape, which was only forty-five feet in horizontal and sixty-eight feet in vertical diameter. The capacity of this interior balloon was only sixty-seven thousand cubic feet. It was to float in the fluid surrounding it. A valve opened from one balloon into the other and thus enabled the air or not to communicate with both. This arrangement offered the advantage that if gas had to be let off so as to descend, that which was in the outer balloon would go first, and were completely emptied the smaller one would still remain intact. The outer envelope might then be cast off as a useless encumbrance, and the second balloon, left free to itself, would not offer the same hold to the current severe as a half-inflated one must needs present. Moreover, in case of an accident happening to the outside balloon, such as getting torn, for instance, the other would remain intact. The balloons were made of a strong but light Leon silk, coated with gutta percha. This gummy, resonance substance is absolutely waterproof, and also resists acids and gas perfectly. The silk was doubled at the upper extremity of the oval where the most of the strain would come. Such an envelope as this would retain the inflating fluid for any length of time. It weighed half a pound per nine square feet, hence the surface of the outside balloon being about 11,600 square feet, its envelope weighed 650 pounds. The envelope of the second or inner balloon, having 9,200 square feet of surface, weighed only about 510 pounds, or say 1160 pounds for both. The network that supported the car was made a very strong hempen cord, and the two valves were the object of the most minute and careful attention, as the rudder of a ship would be. The car, which was of a circular form and 15 feet in diameter, was made of wicker work, strengthened with a slight covering of iron, and protected below by a system of elastic springs to deaden the shock of collision. Its weight, along with that of the network, did not exceed 250 pounds. In addition to the above, the doctor calls to be constructed two sheet iron chests, two lightened thickness. These were connected by means of pipes furnished with stop clocks. He joined to these a spiral, two inches in diameter, which terminated in two branch pieces of unequal length, the longer of which, however, was 25 feet in height, and the shorter, only 15 feet. These sheet iron chests were embedded in the car, in such a way as to take up the least possible amount of space. The spiral, which was not to be adjusted until some future moment, was packed up separately, along with a very strong Bunsen electric battery. This apparatus had been so ingeniously combined that it did not weigh more than 700 pounds, even including 25 gallons of water in another receptacle. The instruments provided for the journey consisted of two barometers, two thermometers, two compasses, a sextant, two chronometers, an unofficial horizon, and an altasima to throw out the height of distant and inaccessible objects. The Greenwich Observatory had placed itself at the dock of disposal. The latter, however, did not intend to make experiments in physics. He merely wanted to be able to know in what direction he was passing, and to determine the position of the principal rivers, mountains, and towns. He also provided himself with three thoroughly-tested iron anchors, and a light but strong silk ladder, 50 feet in length. He at the same time carefully weighted his stores of provision, which consisted of tea, coffee, biscuit, salted meat, and pomegranate, a preparation which comprises many nutritive elements in a small space. Besides the sufficient stock of pure brandy, he arranged two water tanks, each of which contained 22 gallons. The consumption of these articles wasn't necessarily, little by little, to diminish the weight to be sustained, for it must be remembered that the equilibrium of balloon floating in the atmosphere is extremely sensitive. The loss of almost insignificant weight suffices to produce a very noticeable displacement. Nor did the doctor forget an awning to shelter the car, nor the coverings and blankets that were to be the bedding of the journey, nor some fouling pieces and rifles with their requisite supply of powder and ball. Here is the summing up of his various items and their weight as he computed it. Ferguson, 135 pounds. Kennedy, 153 pounds. Joe, 120 pounds. Weight of the outside balloon, 650 pounds. Weight of the second balloon, 510 pounds. Car, Network, 280 pounds. Anchors, instruments, awnings, and sundry utensils, guns, coverings, etc. 190 pounds. Meat, Pimkin, Biscuits, Tea, Coffee, Brandy, 386 pounds. Water, 400 pounds. Apparatus, 700 pounds. Weight of the Hydrogen, 276 pounds. Ballast, 200 pounds. Total, 4,000 pounds. Such were the items of the 4,000 pounds that Dr. Ferguson proposed to carry up with him. He took only 200 pounds of ballast for unforeseen emergencies, as he remarked, since otherwise he did not expect to use any, thanks to the peculiarity of his apparatus. End of Chapter 7 of Five Weeks in a Balloon. Recording by Alex C. Tolander. Davis, California. Chapter 8 of Five Weeks in a Balloon. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Alex C. Tolander. Davis, California. Five Weeks in a Balloon, or Journeys and Discoveries in Africa by Three Englishmen, by Jules Verne. Translated by William Lackland. Chapter 8. Joe's Importance. The Commander of the Resolute. Kennedy's Arsenal. Mutual amenities. The farewell dinner. Departure on the 21st of February. The Doctor of Scientific Sessions. Duverrier. Livingston. Details of the aerial voyage. Kennedy silenced. About the 10th of February, the preparations were pretty well completed, and the balloons firmly secured, one within the other, while together finished. They had been subjected to a powerful pneumatic pressure in all parts, and the test gave excellent evidence of their solidity and the care applied in their construction. Joe hardly knew what he was about, with delight. He trotted incessantly to and fro between his home in Greek Street and the Mitchell establishment, always full of business, but always in the highest spirits, giving details of the affair to people who did not even ask him, so proud was he, above all things, of being permitted to accompany his master. I have even assured suspicion that what was showing the balloon, explaining the plans and views of the Doctor, giving folks a glimpse at the latter, through a half of a window, or pointing him out as he passed along the streets, the clever scamp earned a few half-crowns, but we must not find fault with him for that. He had as much right as anybody else to speculate upon the admiration and curiosity of his contemporaries. On the 16th of February, the resolute cast anchor near Greenwich. She was a screw propeller of 800 tons, a fast sailor, and the very vessel that had been sent out to the polar regions to re-victure the last expedition of Sir Jane's Ross. Her commander, Captain Bennett, had the name of being a very amiable person, and he took a particular interest in the Dock's expedition, having been one of that gentleman's admirers for a long time. Bennett was rather a man of science than a man of war, which did not, however, prevent his vessel from carrying four caronades that had never hurt anybody, to be sure, but had performed the most specific duty in the world. The hold of the resolute was surranged as to find a stowing place for the balloon. The latter was shipped with the greatest precaution on the 18th of February, and was then carefully deposited at the bottom of the vessel in such a way as to prevent accident. The caron and its accessories, the anchors, the cords, the supplies, the water tanks, which were to be filled on arriving, all were embarked and put away under Ferguson's own eyes. Ten tons of sulfuric acid and ten tons of iron filings were put on board for the future production of the hydrogen gas. The quantity was more than enough, but it was well to be provided against accident. The apparatus to be employed to manufacture the gas, including some 30 empty casks, was also stowed away in the hole. These various preparations were terminated on the 18th of February in the evening. Two staterooms, comfortably fitted up, were ready for the reception of Dr. Ferguson and his friend Kennedy. The latter, all the while swearing that he would not go, went on board with a regular arsenal of hunting weapons, among which were two double-barrelled, breech-loading, fouling pieces, and a rifle that had withstood every test of the make of Purney, Morne Dickinson at Edinburgh, with such a weapon a marksman would find no difficulty in lodging a bullet in the eye of a chinois at the distance of two thousand paces. Along with these implements, he had two of Colt's six shooters for unforeseen emergencies. His powder case, his cartridge pouch, his lead, and his bullets did not exceed a certain weight prescribed by the doctor. The three travelers got themselves to rights on board during the working hours of February 19th. They were received with much distinction by the captain and his officers. The doctor continuing as reserved as ever, and thinking of nothing but his expedition. Dick seemed a good deal moved, but was unwilling to betray it, while Joe was fairly dancing and breaking out in laughable remarks. The worthy fellow soon became the gesture and merry Andrew of the boatswain's mess, where a birth had been kept for him. On the 20th a grand farewell dinner was given to Dr. Ferguson and Kennedy by the Royal Geographical Society. Commander Bennett and his officers were present at the entertainment, which was signalized by copious libations and numerous toasts. Healths were drunk, insufficient abundance to guarantee all the guests a lifetime of centuries. So Francis M. presided, with a restrained but dignified feeling. To his own supreme confusion, Dick Kennedy came in for a large share in the jovial felicitations of the night. After having drunk of the intrepid Ferguson, the glory of England, they had to drink to the no less courageous Kennedy, his daring companion. Dick blushed a good deal, on that pass for modesty, whereupon the applause were doubled, and Dick blushed again. A message from the Queen arrived while they were at dessert. Her Majesty offered her compliments to the two travelers, and expressed her wishes for their safe and successful journey. This, of course, rendered imperative fresh toast to her most gracious Majesty. At midnight, after touching farewells and warm shaking of hands, the guests separated. The boats of the Resolute were in waiting at the stairs of Westminster Bridge. The captain leaped in, accompanied by his officers and passengers, and the rapid current of the Thames, aiding the strong arms of the rowers, bore them swiftly to Greenwich. In an hour's time, all were asleep on board. The next morning, February 21st, at three o'clock, the furnaces began to roar. At five, the anchors were weighed, and the Resolute, powerfully driven by her screw, began to plow the water towards the mouth of the Thames. It is needless to say that the topic of the conversation with everyone on board was Dr. Ferguson's enterprise. Seeing and hearing the Doctor soon inspired everybody with such confidence that, in a very short time, there was no one accepting the incredulous Scotchman on the steamer who had the least doubt of the perfect feasibility and success of the expedition. During the long, unoccupied hours of the voyage, the Doctor held regular sittings with lectures on geographical science in the officer's mess room. These young men felt an intense interest in the discoveries made during the last forty years in Africa, and the Doctor related to them the explorations of Barth, Burton, Speak, and Grang, and depicted the wonders of this vast, mysterious country, now thrown open on all sides to the investigations of science. On the north, the young Duverier was exploring Sahara, and bringing the chiefs of the tour-rugs to Paris. Under the inspiration of the French government, two expeditions were preparing, which, descending from the north and coming from the west, would cross each other at Timbuktu. In the south, the inter-fatigable Livingston was still advancing toward the equator, and since March 1862 he had, in company with Mackenzie, ascended the river Wavounia. The nineteenth century would assuredly not pass, contended the Doctor, without Africa having been compelled to surrender the secrets she has kept locked up in her bosom for six thousand years. But the interest of Dr. Ferguson's hearers was excited to the highest pitch when he made note to them, in detail, the preparations for his own journey. They took pleasure in verifying his calculations, they discussed them, and the Doctor frankly took part in the discussion. As a general thing, they were surprised at the limited quantity of provision that he took with him, and one day one of the officers questioned him on that subject. That peculiar point is still on issue, does it, said Ferguson? It does indeed. But how long do you think my trip is going to last? Whole months? If so, you're greatly mistaken. Work to be a long one, we should be lost. We should never get back. But you must note that the distance from Zanzibar to the coast of Senegal is only thirty-five hundred, say, four thousand miles, while at the rate of two hundred and forty miles every twelve hours, which does not come near the rapidity of our railroad trains, by traveling day and night it would take only seven days to cross Africa. But then you could see nothing, make no geographical observations, or reconnoitre the face of the country. I replied to the Doctor, if I am a master of my balloon, if I can ascend and descend at will, I shall stop when I please, especially when two violent currents of air threaten to carry me out of my way with them. And you will encounter such, said Captain Bennett. There are tornadoes that sweep at the rate of more than two hundred and forty miles per hour. You see, then, that with such speed as that, we could cross Africa in twelve hours. One would ride at Zanzibar and go to bed at St. Louis. But, rejoin the officer, could any balloon withstand the wear and tear of such velocity? It has happened before, replied Ferguson. And the balloon would stood it? Perfectly well. It was at the time of the coronation of Napoleon in 1804. The aeronaut, Gernarin, sent up a balloon at Paris about eleven o'clock in the evening. It bore the following inscription in letters of gold, Paris, 25th fromier, year thirteen, coronation of the Emperor Napoleon by his Holiness Pius VII. On the next morning the inhabitants of Rome saw the same balloon soaring above the Vatican, once it crossed the Campania, and finally flooded down into the lake of Brachiano. So you see, gentlemen, that a balloon can resist such velocities. A balloon, that might be, but a man insinuated, Kennedy? Yes, a man too, for the balloon is always motionless, with reference to the air that surrounds it. What moves is the mass of the atmosphere itself. For instance, one might light a taper in the car, and the flame will not even waver. An aeronaut and Gernarin's balloon would not have suffered in the least from the speed. But then I have no occasion to attempt such velocity. And if I can anchor to some tree or some favorable inequality at the ground at night, I shall not fail to do so. Besides, we take provision for two months with us, after all, and there is nothing to prevent our skilful huntsmen here from furnishing game and abundance when we come to a light. Ah, Mr. Kennedy, said a young midshipman, with envious eyes. What splendid shots you'll have! Without counting, said another, that you'll have the glory as well as the sport. Gentlemen, replied the hunter, stammering with confusion. I greatly appreciate your compliments, but they don't belong to me. You, exclaimed everybody, don't you intend to go? I am not going. You won't accompany Dr. Ferguson? Not only shall I not accompany him, but I am here so as to be present at the last moment to prevent his going. Every eye was now turned to the doctor. Never mind him, said the latter, calmly. This is a matter that we can't argue with him. At heart he knows perfectly well that he is going. By St. Andrew, said Kennedy, I swear. Swear to nothing, friend Dick, you have been ganged and weighed. You own your powder, your guns, and your bullets. So don't let us say anything more about it. And in fact, from that day until the arrival at Zanzibar, Dick never opened his mouth. He talked neither about that nor about anything else. He kept absolutely silent. CHAPTER IX. THEY DOUBLE THE CAPE. THE FOUR CASTLE. A COZEMOGRAPHY BY PROPHESOR JOE. CONCERTING THE METHOD OF GUIDING BALOONS. HOW TO SEEK OUT AMAZEFERIC CURRENCE. Eureka. The Resolute plunged along rapidly toward the Cape of Good Hope, the weather continuing fine, although the sea ran heavier. On the thirtieth of March, twenty-seven days after the departure from London, the Table Mountain loomed up on the horizon. Cape City lying at the foot of an amphitheater of hills could be disengaged through the ship's glasses, and soon the Resolute cast anchor in the port. But the captain touched there only to replenish his coal-bunkers, and that was but a day's job. On the morrow he stayed away to the south, so as to double the utths of the most point of Africa and enter the Mozambique Channel. This was not Joe's first sea voyage, and so, for his part, he soon found himself at home on board. Everybody liked him for his frankness and good humor. A considerable share of his master's renown was reflected upon him. He was listened to as an oracle, and he made no more mistakes than the next one. So while the doctor was pursuing his descriptive course of lecturing in the officer's mess, Joe reigned supreme on the Four Castle, holding forth in his own peculiar manner and making history to suit himself, a style of procedure pursued by the way by the great historians of all ages and nations. The topic of discourse was, naturally, the aerial voyage. Joe had experienced some trouble in getting the rebellious spirits to believe in it, but once accepted by them, nothing connected with it was any longer an impossibility to the imaginations of the seamen stimulated by Joe's harangues. Our dazzling narrator persuaded his hearers that, after this trip, many others still more wonderful would be undertaken. In fact, it was to be but the first of a long series of superhuman expeditions. You see, my friends, when a man has had a taste of that kind of traveling, he can't get along afterward with any other. So, on our next expedition, instead of going off to one side, we'll go right ahead, going up, too, all the time. Humpf! Then you'll go to the moon, said one of the crowd, with a stare of amazement. To the moon, exclaimed Joe. To the moon, poo, that's too common. Everybody might go to the moon, that way. Besides, there's no water there, and you have to carry such a lot of it along with you. Then you have to take our air along in bottles so as to breathe. Aye-aye, that's all right. But can a man get a drop of the real stuff there? Said a sailor who liked his toddy. Not a drop, was Joe's answer. No, old fellow, not in the moon. But we're going to skip around among those little twinklers up there, the stars, and the splendid planets that my old man so often talks about. For instance, we'll commence with Saturn. That one with the ring, asked the boatswain? Yes, the wedding ring. Only no one knows what's become of his wife. What, will he go so high up as that, said one of the ship boys, gaping with wonder? Why, your master must be Old Nick himself. Oh, no, he's too good for that. But after Saturn, what then was the next inquiry of his impatient audience? After Saturn, well, we'll visit Jupiter, a funny place that is, too, where the days are only nine hours and a half long. A good thing for the lazy fellows. And the years, would you believe it, last twelve of hours, which is fine for folks who have only six months to live. They get off a little longer by that. Twelve years, ejaculated the boy. Yes, my youngster, so that in that country you'd be tallling after your mama yet, and that old chap yonder, who looks about fifty, will already be a little shaver of four and a half. Blazes, that's a good one, shouted the whole forecastle together. Solemn true, said Joe, stoutly. But what can you expect? When people will stay in this world, they'll learn nothing, and keep as ignorant as bears. But just come along to Jupiter, and you'll see. But they have to look up out there, for he's got satellites that are not just the easiest things to pass. All the men laughed, but they have more than a half believed him. Then he went on to talk about Neptune, where seafaring men get a jovial reception, and Mars, where the military get the best of the sidewalk to such an extent that folks can hardly stand it. Finally he drew them a heavy picture of the delights of Venus. And when we get back from that expedition, said the indefatible narrator, they'll decorate us with the sudden cross that shines up there in the creator's buttonhole. I, and you'll have well earned it, said the sailors. Thus passed the long evenings on the forecastle and married chat, and during the same time the doctor went on with his instructive discourses. One day the conversation turned upon the means of directing the balloons, and the doctor was asked his opinion about it. I don't think, said he, that we should succeed in finding out a system of directing them. I am familiar with all the plans attempted and proposed, and not one has succeeded, not one is practicable. You may readily understand that I have occupied my mind with this subject, which was, necessarily, so interesting to me, but I have not been able to solve the problem with the appliances now known in mechanical science. We would have to discover a motive power of extraordinary force, and almost impossible lightness and machinery, and even then we could not resist atmospheric currents of any considerable strength. Until now the effort has been rather to direct the car than the balloon, and that has been one great error. Still there are many points of resemblance between a balloon and a ship, which is directed at will. Not at all, retorted the doctor. There is little or no similarity between the two cases. Arrow is infinitely as dense than water, in which the ship is only half submerged, while the whole bulk of a balloon is plunged in the atmosphere, and remains motionless with reference to the element that surrounds it. You think, then, that aerostatic science has said its last word? Not at all, not at all. But we must look for another point in the case, and if we cannot manage to guide our balloon, we must at least try to keep it in favorable aerial currents. In proportion as we ascend, the latter become much more uniform and flow more constantly in one direction. They are no longer disturbed by the mountains and valleys that traverse the surface of the globe, and these, you know, are the chief cause of the variations of the wind and the inequality of their force. Therefore these zones, having been once determined, the balloon will merely have to be placed in the current space adapted to its destination. But then continue to captain bed it. In order to reach them, he must keep constantly ascending or descending. That is the real difficulty, doctor. And why, my dear captain? Let us understand one another. It will be a difficulty in an obstacle only for long journeys, and not for short aerial excursions. And why so, if you please? Because you can ascend only by throwing out ballast. You can descend only after letting off gas, and by these processes your ballast and your gas are soon exhausted. My dear sir, that's the whole question. There is the only difficulty that science need now seek to overcome. The problem is not how to guide the balloon, but how to take it up and down without expending the gas, which is its strength, its lifeblood, its soul, if I may use the expression. You are right, my dear doctor. But this problem is not yet solved. This means has not yet been discovered. I beg your pardon. It has been discovered. By whom? By me? By you? You may really believe that otherwise I should not have risked this expedition across Africa and the balloon. In twenty-four hours I should have been without gas. But you said nothing about that in England. No, I did not want to have myself overhauled in public. I saw no use in that. I made my preparatory experiments in secret and was satisfied. I have no occasion then to learn anything more than from them. Well, doctor, would it be proper to ask what is your secret? Here it is, gentlemen, the simplest thing in the world. The attention of his auditory was now directed to the doctor, in the utmost degree, as he quietly proceeded with his explanation. OF FIVE WEEKS IN THE BALLOON THE COLOR OF FEAR THE SYSTEM OF MANOVERING SUCCESS CERTAIN The attempt has often been made, gentlemen, said the doctor, to rise and descend at will without losing ballast or gas from the balloon. A French aeronaut, M. Mounier, tried to accomplish this by compressing air in an inner receptacle. A Belgium, Dr. Van Heck, by means of wings and paddles, obtained a vertical power that would have sufficed in most cases. But the practical results secured from these experiments have been insignificant. I therefore resolved to go about the thing more directly, so, at the start, I dispensed with ballast altogether, accepting as a provision for cases of special emergency, such as the breakage of my apparatus or the necessity of ascending very suddenly, so as to avoid unforeseen obstacles. My means of ascent and descent consist simply in dilating or contracting the gas that is in the balloon by the application of different temperatures, and here is the method of obtaining the result. You saw me bring on board with the car several cases or receptacles, use of which you may not have understood. They are five in number. The first contains about 25 gallons of water, to which I add a few drops of sulfuric acid, so as to augment its capacity as a conductor or electricity, and then I decompose it by means of a powerful Bunsen battery. Water, as you know, consists of two parts of hydrogen to one of oxygen gas. The latter, through the action of the battery, passes at its positive pole into the second receptacle. A third receptacle, placed above the second one, at a doubless capacity, receives the hydrogen passing into it by the negative pole. Stop cocks, of which one has an orifice twice the size of the other, communicate between these receptacles, and a fourth one, which is called the mixture reservoir, since it is in these two gases obtained by the decomposition of the water to readily commingle. The capacity of this fourth tank is about 41 cubic feet. On the upper part of this tank is a Palladin II provided with a stop cock. You will now really understand, gentlemen, the apparatus that I have described to you is really a gas cylinder and blowpipe for oxygen and hydrogen, the heat of which exceeds that of a forge fire. This much established, I perceive the second part of my apparatus. From the lowest part of my balloon, which is hermetically closed, issued two tubes a little distance apart. The one starts among the upper layers of the hydrogen gas, the other amid the lower layers. These two pipes are provided at intervals with strong joinings of India rubber, which enable them to move in harmony with the oscillations of the balloon. Both of them run down as far as the car and lose themselves in an iron receptacle of cylindrical form, which is called the heat tank. The latter is closed at its two ends by two strong plates of the same metal. The pipe running from the lower part of the balloon runs into this cylindrical receptacle through the lower plate. It penetrates the latter and then takes the form of a helicoidal or screw-shaped spiral, the rings of which, rising one over the other, occupy ideally the whole of the height of the tank. Before again issuing from it, this spiral runs into a small cone with a concave base that is turned downward in the shape of a spherical cap. It is from the top of this cone that the second pipe issues and it runs, as I have said, into the upper beds of the balloon. The spherical cap of the small cone is of platinum, so as not to melt by the action of the cylinder and blowpipe. For the latter are placed upon the bottom of the iron tank, in the midst of the helicoidal spiral, and the extremity of their flame will slightly touch the cap in question. You all know, gentlemen, what a calor affair to heat apartments is. You know how it acts. The air of the apartment is forced to pass through its pipes and is then released with a heightened temperature. Well, what I have just described to you is nothing more nor less than a calor affair. In fact, what is it that takes place? The cylinder once lighted, the hydrogen in the spiral, and in the concave cone becomes heated, and rapidly it sends through the pipe that leads the upper part of the balloon. A vacuum is created below and it attracts the gas in the lower parts. This becomes heated in its turn and is continually replaced. Thus, an extremely rapid current of gas is established in the pipes and in the spiral which issues from the balloon and then returns to it, and is heated over again incessantly. Now, the cases increase 1 480th of their volume for each degree of heat applied. If then I force the temperature 18 degrees, the hydrogen of the balloon will dilate 18 480th or 1614 cubic feet, and will therefore displace 1614 more cubic feet of air, which will increase its accessional power by 160 pounds. This is equivalent to throwing out that weight of balance. If I augment the temperature by 180 degrees, the gas will dilate 180 480th and will displace 16740 cubic feet more, and its accessional force will be augmented by 1600 pounds. Thus, you see, gentlemen, that I can easily affect very considerable changes of equilibrium. The volume of the balloon has been calculated in such manner that when half inflated, it displaces a weight of air exactly equal to that of the envelope containing the hydrogen gas and of the car occupied by the passengers and all its apparatus and accessories. At this point of inflation, it is in exact equilibrium with the air and neither mounts nor descends. In order then to affect an ascent, I give the gas a temperature superior to the temperature of the surrounding air by means of my cylinder. By this excessive heat, it obtains a larger distention and inflates the balloon more, the latter then ascends in proportion as I heat the hydrogen. The descent, of course, is affected by lowering the heat of the cylinder and letting the temperature abate. The ascent would be usually more rapid than the descent, but that is a fortunate circumstance, since it is of no importance to me to descend rapidly, while on the other hand it is by a very rapid ascent that I avoid obstacles. The real danger lurks below and not above. Besides, as I have said, I have a certain quantity of ballast which will enable me to ascend more rapidly still when necessary. My valve at the top of the balloon is nothing more nor less than a safety valve. The balloon always retains the same quantity of hydrogen and the variations of temperature that I produce in the midst of this shut-up gas are of themselves sufficient to provide for all these ascending and descending movements. Now, gentlemen, as a practical detail, let me add this. The combustion of the hydrogen and of the oxygen at the point of the cylinder produces solid vapor or steam of water. I have, therefore, provided the lower part of the cylindrical iron box with the escape pipe with the valve operating by means of a pressure of two atmospheres. Consequently, so soon as this amount of pressure is attained, the steam escapes of itself. Here are the exact figures. 25 gallons of water separated into its constituent elements yield 200 pounds of oxygen and 25 pounds of hydrogen. This represents an atmospheric tension 1,800 cubic feet of the former and 3,780 cubic feet of the latter, or 5,670 cubic feet in all of the mixture. Hence the stopcock of my cylinder, when fully open, expands 27 cubic feet per hour, with a flame at least six times as strong as that of the large lamps used for lighting streets. On an average then, and in order to keep myself at a very moderate elevation, I should not burn more than 9 cubic feet per hour, instead my 25 gallons of water represents 636 hours of aero navigation or a little more than 26 days. While as I can descend when I please to replenish my stock of water on the way, my trip might be indefinitely prolonged. Such gentleman is my secret. It is simple, unlike most simple things, it cannot fail to succeed. The dilation and contraction of the gas in the balloon is my means of locomotion, which calls for neither cumbersome wings nor any other mechanical motor, a color or affair to produce the change of the temperature and the cylinder to generate the heat, or neither inconvenient nor heavy. I think therefore that I have combined all the elements of success. Dr. Ferguson here terminated his discourse, and was most hardly applauded. There is not an objection to make it to it. All have been foreseen and decided. However, said the captain, the thing may prove dangerous. What matters that, replied the doctor, provided that it be practicable. CHAPTER 11 OF FIVE WEEKS IN A BALLOON The arrival at Zanzibar, the English Consul, ill will of the inhabitants, the island of Kumbini, the rain-makers, inflation of the balloon, departure on the 18th of April, the last goodbye, the Victoria. An invariably favorable wind had accelerated the progress of the Resolute toward the place of her destination. The navigation of the Mozambique Channel was especially calm and pleasant. The irreparable character of the trip by sea was regarded as a good omen of the probable issue of the trip through the air. Everyone looked forward to the hour of arrival, and sought to give the last touch to the doctor's preparations. It lent the vessel-hove in sight to the town of Zanzibar, upon the island of the same name, and on the fifteenth of April, at eleven o'clock in the morning, she anchored in the port. The island of Zanzibar belongs to Imam of Muscat, an ally of France and England, and is undoubtedly his finest settlement. The port is frequented by a great many vessels from the neighboring countries. The island is separated from the African coast only by a channel. The greatest width of which is but thirty miles. It has a large trade in Gums, Ivory, and above all in Ebony, for Zanzibar is the great slave market. Did the converges all the booty captured in the battles, which the chiefs of the interior are continually fighting? This traffic extends all along the eastern coast, and as far as the Nile, Natitudes. Mr. G. Lejean even reports that he has seen it carried on openly under the French flag. Upon the arrival of the Resolute, the English consul at Zanzibar came on board to offer his services to the doctor, of whose projects the European newspapers had made him aware for a month past, but up to that moment he had remained with the numerous phalanx of the incredulous. I doubted, said he, holding out his hand to Dr. Ferguson, but now I doubt no longer. He invited the doctor, Kennedy, and the faithful Joe, of course, to his own dwelling. Through his courtesy the doctor was unable to have knowledge of the various letters that he had received from Captain Speak. The captain and his companions had suffered driftily from hunger and bad weather before reaching Uggogo County. They could advance only with extreme difficulty, and did not expect to be able to communicate again for a long time. Those are perils and privations which we shall manage to avoid, said the doctor. The baggage of the three travelers was conveyed to the consul's residence. Arrangements were made for disembarking the balloon upon the beach at Zanzibar. There was a convenient spot near the signal-mass, close by an immense building, that would serve to shelter it from the east winds. This huge tower resembling a tonne standing on one end, besides which the famous Heidelberg tonne would have seen but a very ordinary barrel, served as a fortification, and on its platform were station belluches, armed with lances. These belluches are a kind of brawling, good-for-nothing, genisaries. But when about to land the balloon, the consul was informed that the population of the island would oppose their doing so by force. Nothing is so blind as fanatical passion. The news of the arrival of a Christian, who was to ascend into the air, was received with rage. The Negroes, more exasperated than the Arabs, saw on this a project and attack upon their religion. They took it into their heads that some mischief was meant to the sun and the moon. Now these two luminaries are objects of veneration to the African tribes, and they determined to oppose so sacrilegious and enterprise. The consul, informed of their intentions, conferred with Dr. Ferguson and Captain Bennett on the subject. The latter was unwilling to yield the threats, but his friend dissuaded him from any idea of violent retaliation. We shall certainly come out winners, he said. Even the imam soldiers will lend us a hand, if we need it. But, my dear captain, an accident may happen in a moment, and it will require but one unlucky blow to do the balloon and irreparable injury, so that the trip will be totally defeated. Therefore we must act with the greatest caution. But what are we to do, if we land on the coast of Africa, we shall encounter the same difficulties? What are we to do? Nothing is more simple, replied the consul. You observe these small islands outside of the port, land your balloon on one of them, surround it with a guard of sailors, and you will have no risk to run. Just the things, said the doctor, and we shall be entirely at our ease in completing our preparations. The captain yielded to these suggestions, and the resolute was headed for the island of Kumbini. During the morning of the 16th of April, the balloon was placed in safety, in the middle of a clearing in the great woods, with which the soil is studded. Two masts, eighty feet in height, were raised at the same distance from each other. Blocks and tackle, placed with their extremities, afforded the means of elevating the balloon, by the aid of a transverse rope. It was then entirely uninflated. The interior balloon was fastened to the exterior one, in such a manner as to be lifted up in the same way. To the lower end of each balloon were fixed the pipes that served to introduce the hydrogen gas. The whole day on the 17th was spent in arranging the apparatus, destined to produce the gas. It consisted of some thirty casks, in which the decomposition of water was affected by means of iron filings, and sulfuric acid placed together in a large quantity of the first name fluid. The hydrogen passed into a huge central cask, after having been washed on the way, and then sent into each balloon by the conduit pipes. In this manner each of them received a certain acoly acetane quantity of gas. For this purpose there had to be employed 1866 pounds of sulfuric acid, 16,050 pounds of iron, and 9,166 gallons of water. This operation commenced on the following night, about 3 a.m., and lasted nearly eight hours. The next day the balloon, covered with its network, undulated gracefully above its car, which was held to the ground by numerous sacks of earth. The inflating apparatus was put together with extreme care, and the pipes issuing from the balloon were securely fitted to their cylindrical case. The anchors, the cordage, the instruments, the travelling wraps, the awning, the provisions, and the arms were put in the place assigned to them in the car. The supply of water was procured at Sandsabar. The two hundred pounds of ballast were distributed in fifty bags, placed at the bottom of the car, but with their arms reached. These preparations were concluded about five o'clock in the evening, while sedentals kept close watch around the island, and the boats of the Resolute patrolled the channel. The blacks continued to show their displeasure by grimaces and contortions. Their obi men, or wizards, went up and down among the angry throngs, pouring fuel on the flame of their freneticism, and some of the excited breaches, more furious and daring than the rest, attempted to get to the island by swimming, but they were easily driven off. Thereupon the sorceries and incantations commenced. The rain-makers, who pretend to have control over the clouds, invoked the storms and the stone showers, as the blacks called hail to their aid. To compel them to do so, they plucked leaves of all the different trees that grow in that country, and bowled them over a slow fire, while, at the same time, a sheep was killed by thrusting a long needle into its heart. But in spite of all their ceremonies, the sky remained clear and beautiful, and they profited nothing by their slaughtered sheep and their ugly grimaces. The blacks then abandoned themselves to the most furious orgies, and got fearfully drunk on Timbo, a kind of ardent spirits drawn from the Coco Nut tree, and an extremely heady sort of beer called Togwa. Their chants, which were destitute of all melody, but were sung in excellent time, continued until far into the night. About six o'clock in the evening, the captain assembled the travelers and the officers of the ship, at a farewell repast, in his cabin. Kennedy, whom nobody ventured to question now, sat with his eyes riveted on Dr. Ferguson, remembering indistinguishable words. In other respects, the dinner was a gloomy one. The approach of the final moment filled everybody with the most serious reflections. What had fate in store for these daring adventurers? Should they ever again find themselves in the midst of their friends, or seated at the domestic hearth, where their traveling apparatus to fail, what would become of them, among those ferocious savage tribes, in regions that had never been explored, and in the midst of boundless deserts? Such thoughts as these, which had been dim and vague until then, orbit slightly regarded when they came up, returned upon their excited fancies with intense force at this parting moment. Dr. Ferguson, still cold and impassable, talked of this, that, and the other, but he strove in vain to overcome this infectious gloominess, he utterly failed. That some demonstration against the personal safety of the doctor and his companions was veered, all three slept that night on board the Resolute. At six o'clock in the morning, they left their cabin and landed on the island of Cumbini. The balloon was swaying gently to and fro in the morning breeze. The sandbags that had held it down were now replaced by some twenty strong armed sailors, and Captain Ben and his officers were present to witness the solemn departure of their friends. At this moment, Kennedy went right up to the doctor, grasped at hand, and said, Samuel, have you absolutely determined to go? Solomny, determine, my dear Dick. I have done everything that I could to prevent this expedition, have I not? Everything. Well then, my conscience is clear on that score, and I will go with you. I was sure you would, said the doctor, betraying in his features swift phrases of emotion. At last the moment of the final leave taken arrived. The Captain and his officers embraced their dauntless friends with great feeling, not accepting even Joe, who, worthy fellow, was as proud and happy as a prince. Everyone in the party insisted upon having a final shake of the doctor's hand. At nine o'clock the three travelers got into their car. The doctor lit the combustible in his cylinder, and turned the flame so as to produce a rapid heat, and the balloon which had rested on the ground in perfect equipoise began to rise in a few minutes, so that the seamen had to slacken the ropes they held it by. The car then rose about twenty feet above their heads. My friends explained the doctor, standing up between his two companions, and taking off his hat. Let us give our aerial ship a name that will bring her good luck. Let us christen her a Victoria. The speech was answered with stentorian cheers of Huzzah for the Queen, Huzzah for Old England. At this moment the essential force of the balloon increased prodigiously, and Ferguson, Kennedy, and Joe waved alas goodbye to their friends. Let go all, shouted the doctor, and at the word the Victoria shot rapidly up into the sky, while the four caronades on board the resolute thundered forth a parting salute in her honor.