 CHAPTER XII. The air was pure, the wind moderate, and the balloon ascended almost perpendicularly to a height of fifteen hundred feet, as indicated by a depression of two inches in the barometric column. At this height a more decided current carried the balloon toward the south-west, what a magnificent spectacle was then outspread beneath the gaze of the travellers. The island of Zanzibar could be seen in its entire extent, marked out by its deeper colour upon a vast planet sphere. The fields that had the appearance of patterns of different colours and thick clumps of green indicated the groves and thickets. The inhabitants of the island looked no larger than insects. The hazzang and shouting were little by little lost in the distance, and only the discharge of the ship's guns could be heard in the concavity beneath the balloon as the latter spit on its flight. How fine that is, said Joe, breaking the silence for the first time. He got no reply. The doctor was busy observing the variations of the barometer and noting down the details of his ascent. Kennedy looked on, and had not eyes enough to take in all that he saw. The rays of the sun coming to the aid of the heating cylinder, the tensions of the gas increased, and the Victoria attained the height of twenty-five hundred feet. The resident looked like a mirror cockle-shell, and the African coast could be distinctly seen in the west, marked out by a fringe of foam. You don't talk, said Joe again? We are looking, said the doctor, directing his spyglass toward the mainland. For my part, I must talk. As much as you please, Joe, talk as much as you like. And Joe went on alone with the tremendous folly of exclamations. The o's and the a's exploded one after the other, incessantly from his lips. During his passage over the seas, the doctor deemed it best to keep it his present elevation. He could thus reconnoitre a great stretch of the coast. The thermometer and the barometer, hanging up inside of the half-open awning, were always within sight, and the second barometer suspended outside was to serve during the night watches. At the end of about two hours, the Victoria, driven along at a speed of a little more than eight miles, very visibly, near the coast of the mainland. The doctor thereupon determined to descend a little nearer to the ground, so he moderated the flame of his cylinder, and the balloon in a few moments had descended to an altitude only three hundred feet above the soil. It was then found to be passing just over the Marimak country, the name of this part of the eastern coast of Africa. Dense borders of mango trees protected its margin, and the ebb tide disclosed to view their thick roots, chafed and gnawed by the teeth of the Indian Ocean. The sands which, at an earlier period, formed the coastline, rounded away along the distant horizon, and mountain guru wear'd aloft its sharp summit in the northwest. The Victoria passed near to a village, which the doctor found marked upon his chart as Kaoli. Its entire population had assembled in crowds, and were yelling with anger and fear, at the same time vainly directing their arrows against this monster of the air, that swept along so majestically away above all their powerless fury. The wind was setting to the southward, but the doctor felt no concern on that score, since it enabled him the better to follow the root, traced by captain's burden and speak. Kennedy had at length become as talkative as Joe, and the two kept up a continual interchange of admiring interjections and exclamations. Out upon stagecoast you said one. Steamers indeed said the other. Railroads eh? rubbish, put in Kennedy, that you travel on without seeing the country. Balloons, they're the sort for me, Joe would add. Why, you don't feel yourself going, and nature takes the travel to spread herself out before one's eyes. What a splendid sight! What a spectacle! What a delight! A dream and a hammock! Suppose we take our breakfast with Joe's unpoetical change of tune, at last for the keen open air had mildly sharpened his appetite. Good idea, my boy! It won't take us long to do the cooking. Biscuit and potted meat. And as much coffee as you like, said the doctor, I give you leave to borrow a little heat from my cylinder. There's enough and despair, for that manner, and so we shall avoid the risk of a conflagration. That would be a dreadful misfortune, ejaculated Kennedy. It's the same as a powder magazine suspended over our heads. Not for precisely, said Ferguson, but still if the gas were to take fire it would burn up gradually, and we would settle down on the ground, which would be disagreeable. But never fear, our balloon is hermetically sealed. Let us eat a bite, then, replied Kennedy. Now gentlemen, put in Joe, while doing the same as you, I'm going to get you up a cup of coffee that I think you'll have something to say about. The fact is, added the doctor, that Joe, along with a thousand other virtues, has a remarkable talent for the preparation of that delicious beverage. He compounds it of a mixture of various origin, but he never would reveal to me the ingredients. Wallmaster, since we are so far above ground, I can tell you the secret. It is just to mix equal quantities of mocha, of bourbon coffee, and of Rio Nunes. A few moments later, three steaming cups of coffee were served, and topped off a substantial breakfast, which was additionally seasoned by the jokes and repartees of the guests. Each one then resumed his post of observation. The country over which they were passing was remarkable for its fertility. Narrow winding paths plunged in beneath the overarching verter. They swept along above cultivated fields of tobacco, maize, and barley, at full maturity. And here and there immense rice fields, full of straight stalks and purple blossoms. They could distinguish sheep and goats, too, confined in large cages, set up on piles to keep them out of reach of the leopard's fangs. Luxurious vegetation spreading wild profuseness over this prodigal soil. Village after village rang with yells of terror and astonishment at the sight of the Victoria, and Dr. Ferguson, prudently kept her above the reach of the barbarian arrows. The savages below thus baffled ran together from their huddle of huts, and followed the travelers with their vey implications while they remained in sight. At noon the doctor, upon consulting his map, calculated that they were passing over the Uzoramo. Footnote, you and oo signify country in the language of that region. Uzoramo country. The soil was thickly studded with coconut papal and cottonwood trees, above which the balloon seemed to disport itself like a bird. Joe found this splendid vegetation a matter of course, seeing that they were in Africa. Kennedy described some hairs and quails that asked nothing better than to get a good shot from his vallying feasts, but it would have been powder wasted since there was no time to pick up the game. The aeronauts swept on with a speed of twelve miles per hour and soon passed again thirty-eight degrees, twenty minutes east longitude, over the village of Tunda. It was there, said the doctor, that Burton and Speek were seized with violent fevers, and for a moment thought their expedition ruined, and yet they were only a short distance from the coast, but fatigue and privation were beginning to tell upon them severely. In fact there is a perpetual malaria rating throughout the country in question. Even the doctor could hope to escape its effects only by rising above the range of the miasma that exhales from this damp region whence the blazing rays of the sun pump up its poisonous vapors. Once in a while they could describe a caravan resting in a crawl, awaiting for their freshness and cool of the evening to resume its route. These crawls are wide patches of cleared land, surrounded by hedges and jungles, where traitors take shelter against not only the wild beasts, but also the raven tribes of the country. They could see the natives running and scattering in all directions at the side of the Victoria. Kennedy was keen to get a closer look at them, but the doctor invariably held out against the idea. The chiefs are armed with mustakets, he said, and our balloon will be too conspicuous a mark for their bullets. Would a bullet hole bring us down, asked Joe? Not immediately, but such a hole would soon become a large torn orifice through which our gas would escape. Then let us keep a respectful distance from young miscreants. What must they think as they see us sailing in the air? I'm sure they must feel like worshiping us. Let them worship away, then, replied the doctor, but at a distance. There is no harm done in getting as far or as away from them as possible. See, the country is already changing its aspect. The villages are fewer and farther between. The mango trees have disappeared, for their growth ceases at this altitude. The soil is becoming hilly and portends mountains not far off. Yes, said Kennedy, it seems to me that I can see some high land on this side. In the west, those of the nearest ranges of the Urizara, Mount Duthumi, no doubt behind which I hope to find shelter for the night. I'll stir up the heat in the cylinder a little, for we must keep at an elevation of five or six hundred feet. That was a grand idea of yours, sir, said Joe. It's mighty easy to manage. Just turn a cock, and the thing's done. All right, here we are more at our ease, said the sportsman, as the balloon ascended. The reflection of the sun on those red sands was getting to be insupportable. What splendid trees, cried Joe. They're quite natural, but they are very fine. Why, a dozen of them would make a forest. Those are Baobabs, replied Dr. Ferguson. See, there's one with a trunk, fully one hundred feet in circumference. It was perhaps at the foot of that very tree that Maizan, the French traveler, expired in 1845, for we are over the village of Deje-la-Maur, which of which he pushed on alone. He was seized by the chief of this region, fastened to the foot of a Baobab, and the ferocious black then severed all his joints while the war song of his tribe was chanted. He then made a gash in the prisoner's neck. Stopped to sharpen his knife, and fairly tore away the poor rich's head before it had been cut from the body. The unfortunate Frenchman was but 26 years of age, and France has never avenged so hideous a crime, said Kennedy. France did demand satisfaction, and the site of Sanzibar did all in his power to capture the murderer, but in vain. I move that we won't stop here, urge Joe. Let us go up, master. Let us go up higher, by all means. All the more willingly, Joe, that there is Mount Duthumi right ahead of us. If my calculations be right, we shall have passed it before seven o'clock in the evening. Shall we not travel at night, as the Scotchman? No, as little as possible. With care and vigilance we might do so safely, but it is not enough to sweep across Africa. We want to see it. Up to this time we have nothing to complain of, master. The best cultivated and most fertile country in the world instead of a desert. Believe the geographers after that. Let us wait, Joe. We shall see by and by. About half past six in the evening, the victoria was directly opposite Mount Duthumi. In order to pass it had to ascend to a height of more than three thousand feet, and to accomplish that the doctor had only to raise the temperature of his gas, eighteen degrees. It might have been correctly said that he held his balloon at his hand. Kennedy had only to indicate to him the obstacles to be surmounted, and the victoria sped through the air, skimming the summits of the range. At eight o'clock it had extended to farther slope, the aclivity of which was much less abrupt. The anchors were thrown out from the car, and one of them, coming in contact with the branches of an enormous noble, caught on it firmly. Joe had once let himself slide down the rope and secured it. The silk ladder was then lowered to him, and he remounted to the car with agility. The balloon now remained perfectly abreast, sheltered from the eastern winds. The evening meal was got ready, and the aeronauts, excited by their day's journey, made a heavy onslaught upon the provisions. What distance have you traversed today? asked Kennedy, disposing of some alarming mouthfuls. The doctor took his bearings by means of lunar observations, and consulted the excellent map that he had with him for his guidance. It belonged to the atlas of Dirdnerster and Dukugan in Africa, the latest discoveries in Africa, published at Gotha by his learned friend Dr. Peterman, and by that savant said to him, This atlas was to serve the doctor on his whole journey, for it contained the itinerary of Burton and Speak to the Great Lakes, the Sudan, according to Dr. Barth, the Loa Senegal, according to Jolon Lejean, and the Delta of the Niger, but Dr. Blakie. Ferguson had also provided himself with a work which combined in one compilation all the notions already acquired, concerning the Nile. It was entitled The Sources of the Nile, being a general survey of the basin of that river and of its head stream, with the history of the Nile-lotic discovery by Charles Beek, D.D. He also had the excellent charts published in the bulletins of the Geographical Society of London, and on a single point of the countries already discovered could therefore escape his notice. On tracing on his maps, he found that his latitudinal route had been two degrees, or 120 miles, to the westward. Kennedy remarked that the route tended toward the south, but this direction was satisfactory to the doctor, who desired to reconnoitre the tracks of his predecessors as much as possible. It was agreed that the night should be divided into three watches, so that each of the parties should take his turn in watching over the safety of the rest. The doctor took the watch, commencing at nine o'clock. Kennedy the one commencing at midnight, and Joe the three o'clock morning watch. So Kennedy and Joe were all wrapped in their blankets, stretched themselves at full length under the awning, and slept quietly, while Dr. Ferguson kept on the lookout. CHAPTER XIII. 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 Lacklin. CHAPTER XIII. CHANGE OF WEATHER. Kennedy heads the fever. The doctor's medicine. Travels on land. The basin of a minge. Mount Rubio. Six thousand feet elevation. A halt in the daytime. The night was calm. However, on Saturday morning Kennedy is ill-woke, complaint of lassitude and feverish chills. The weather was changing. The sky, covered with clouds, seemed to be laying in supplies for a fresh deluge. A gloomy region in that Tsingumoro country, where it rains continually, accepting perhaps for a couple of weeks in the month of January. A violent shower was not long and drenching our travelers. Below them the roads, intersected by nullas, a sort of instantaneous torrent, was soon rendered impracticable and tangled as they were, besides with thorny thickets and gigantic leonas or creeping vines. The sulphur-redded hydrogen emanations, which Captain Burden mentions, could be distinctly smelt. According to his statement, and I think he's right, said the doctor, one could readily believe that there is a corpse hidden behind every thicket. An ugly country this side, Joe, and it seems to me that Mr. Kennedy is none the better for having passed the night in it. To tell the truth, I have quite a high fever, said the sportsman. There's nothing remarkable about that, my dear dick, for you are in one of the most unhealthy regions in Africa, but we should have our brain here long, so let's be off. Thanks to a skilful maneuver achieved by Joe, the anchor was disengaged, and Joe re-ascended to the car by means of the ladder. The doctor vigorously dilated the gas, and the victory resumed her flight, driven along by a spanking breeze. Only a few scattered huts could be seen through this pestilential mist, but the appearance of the country soon changed, for it often happens in Africa that some of the unhealthiest districts lie close beside others that are perfectly salubrious. Kennedy was visibly suffering, and the fever was mastering his vigorous constitution. It won't do to fall ill, though, he grumbled, and so saying, he wrapped himself in a blanket and lay down under the awning. A little patience, dick, you'll soon get over this, said the doctor. Get over it, eagad, Samuel. If you have any drug in your travelling chest that will sip me on my feet again, bring it without delay. I'll swallow it with my eyes shut. Oh, I can do better than that, friend, dick, for I can give you a febri-fuge that won't cost anything. And how will you do that? Very easily. I am simply going to take you up above these clouds that are now deluging us and remove you from this pestilential atmosphere. I ask for only ten minutes in order to dilate the hydrogen. The ten minutes had scarcely lapped ere the travellers were beyond the rainy belt of country. Lay the little now, dick, and you will begin to feel the effect of pure air and sunshine. There is a cure for you, said Joe. Why it's wonderful. No, it's millinatural. Oh, natural, yes, no doubt of that. I bring dick into good air, as the doctors do, every day, in Europe, or I would send a patient, Ed Martinique, to the Pitons, a lefty mountain on that island, to get clear of the yellow fever. Ah, by Joe, this balloon is a paradise, exclaimed Kennedy, feeling much better already. It leads to it anyhow, replied Joe, quite gravely. It was a curious spectacle that massive clouds piled up at the moment away below them. The vapors rolled over each other and mingled together in confused masses of superb brilliance as they reflected the rays of the sun. The Victoria had attained an altitude of 4,000 feet, and the thermometer indicated a certain diminution of temperature. The land below could no longer be seen. Fifty miles away to the westward, Matt Rubio raised its sparkling crest, marking the limit of the Oogogo country, in east longitude, 36 degrees, 20 minutes. The wind was blowing at the rate of 20 miles an hour, but the aeronauts felt nothing of this increased speed. They observed no jar, and had scarcely any sense of motion at all. Three hours later the doctor's prediction was fully verified. Kennedy no longer felt a single shiver of the fever, but partook of some breakfast with an excellent appetite. That beat's soul fate of quinine, said the energetic Scott, with hearty emphasis and much satisfaction. Positively, said Joe, this is where I'll have to retire to when I get old. About ten o'clock in the morning the atmosphere cleared up, the clouds parted, and the country beneath could be seen, the Victoria meanwhile rapidly descending. Dr. Ferguson was in search of a current that would carry him more to the northeast, and he found it about 600 feet from the ground. The country was becoming more broken and even mountainous. The Zungomoro district was fading out of sight in the east with the last coconut trees of the latitude. Air-long, the crests of a mountain range assumed more decided prominence. A few peaks rose here and there, and it became necessary to keep a sharp lookout for the pointed cones that seemed to spring up every moment. We're right among the breakers, said Kennedy. Keep cool, Dick. We shan't touch them, was the doctor's quiet answer. It's a jolly way to travel anyhow, said Joe, with his usual flow of spirits. In fact, the doctor managed his balloon with wondrous dexterity. Now, if we had been compelled to go a foot over that drenched soil, said he, we should still be dragging along at a pestilential mire. Since our departure from Zanzibar, half our beast of burden would have died with fatigue. We should be looking like ghosts ourselves, and despair will be seizing on our hearts. We should be in continual squabbles with our guides and porters, and completely exposed to their unbridled brutality. During the daytime, a damp, penetrating, unendurable humidity. That night, a cold, frequently intolerable, and the stings of a kind of fly whose bite pierces the thickest cloth and drives the victim crazy. All this, too, without saying anything about wild beasts and ferocious native tribes. I move that we don't try it, said Joe, in his drawaway. I exaggerate nothing, continued Ferguson. For upon reading the narratives of such travelers as have had the hard-earned to venture into these regions, your eyes would fill with tears. About eleven o'clock they are passing over the basin of a minge, and the tribes scattered over the adjacent hills with imperdently menacing the victoria with their weapons. Finally she spit along as far as the last undulations of the country which preceded Rubeo. These formed the last and loftiest chain of the mountains of Usogawa. The aeronauts took careful and complete note of the orographic conformation of the country. The three ramifications mentioned, of which the duthumi forms the first link, are separated by immense longitudinal planes. These elevated summits consist of rounded cones between which the soil is bestrewed with erratic blocks of stone and gravelly boulders. The most abrupt declivity of these mountains confronts the zanzibar coast, but the western slopes are merely inclined plains. The depressions in the soils are covered with the black rich loam on which there is a vigorous vegetation. Various watercourses filled a through towards the east and worked their way onward to flow into the kingani in the midst of gigantic clumps of sycamore, tamarin, calabash, and palmyra trees. "'Attention,' said Dr. Ferguson, we are approaching Rubeo, the name of which signifies, in the language of the country, the passage of the winds, and we would do well to double its jagged pinnacles at a certain height. If my chart be exact, we are going to ascend to an elevation of five thousand feet. Shall we often have occasion to reach those far up a belt to the atmosphere?' Very seldom. The height of the African mountains appears to be quite moderate compared with that of the European and Asiatic ranges, but in any case, our good Victoria will find no difficulty in passing over them. In a very little while, the gas expanded under the action of the heat, and the balloon took a very decided essential movement. Besides, the dilation of the hydrogen involved no danger, and only three-fourths of the vast capacity of the balloon was filled when the barometer, by a depression of eight inches, announced an elevation of six thousand feet. "'Shall we go this high very long?' asked Joe. "'The atmosphere of the earth has a height of six thousand fathoms,' said the doctor, and with a very large balloon wiped my mind like it would go far. This is what Mesur's Biyoshi and Gailusak did, but then the blood burst from their mouths and ears. Joe's air was wanting. Some years ago, two fearless Frenchmen, Mesur's Baralau and Bixio, also ventured into the very lofty regions, but their balloon burst. And they fell, asked Kennedy abruptly. Certainly they did, but as learned men should always fall, namely without hurting themselves. "'Well, gentlemen,' said Joe, you may try their fall over again if you like. But as for me, who am but adult, I prefer keeping at the medium height, neither too far up nor too far down. It would do to be too ambitious. At the height of six thousand feet, the density of the atmosphere has already greatly diminished, sound is conveyed with difficulty, and the voice is not so easily heard. The view of objects becomes confused, the gaze no longer takes in any bit large, quite ill-distinguishable masses. Men and animals on the surface become absolutely invisible, the roads and rivers get to look like threads, and the lakes dwindle to ponds. The doctor and his friends felt themselves in a very anomalous condition. An atmospheric current of extreme velocity was burying them away beyond arid mountains, upon whose summits vast fields of snow surprised the gaze, while their convulsed appearance told of titanic travail in the earliest epoch of the world's existence. The sun shone at the zenith, and his rays fell perpendicularly upon those lonely summits. The doctor took an accurate design of these mountains, which formed four distinct ridges, almost in a straight line, the northernmost being the longest. The victoria soon descended the slope opposite to the Rebeo, skirting an eclivity covered with woods, and dotted with trees a very deep green foliage. Then came christs and ravines in a sort of desert, which preceded the ugogo country, and lowered down while yellow plains, parched and fissured by the intense heat, and here and there bestrew with saline plants and brambly thickets. Some underbrush, which farther on became forests, embellished the horizon. The doctor went nearer to the ground, the anchors were thrown out, and one of them soon caught in the bowels of a huge sycamore. Joe, slipping nimbly down the tree, carefully attached the anchor, and the doctor left his cylinder at work to do a certain degree in order to disfertain sufficient essential force in the balloon to keep it in the air. Meanwhile the wind had suddenly died away. Now, said Ferguson, take two guns, friend Dick, one for yourself and one for Joe, and both of you try to bring back some nice cuts of antelope meat that will make us a good dinner. Off to the hunt, exclaimed Kennedy joyously. He climbed briskly out of the car and descended. Joe had swung himself down from branch to branch and was waiting for him below, stretching his limbs in the meantime. Don't fly away without us, doctor, shouted Joe. Never fear, my boy, I am securely lashed. I'll spend the time getting my notes into shape. I'll go to hunt to you, but be careful. Besides, for my post here I can observe the face of the country, and at the least suspicious thing I notice I'll fire a signal shot, and with that you must rally home. Agreed, said Kennedy, and off they went. CHAPTER XIV. OF FIVE WEEKS IN A BALLOON. OF FIVE WEEKS IN A BALLOON, OR JOURNEYS AND DISCOVERIES IN AFRICA, BY THREE ENGLISHMEN, BY JULES VERNE, TRANSLATED BY WILLIAM LACKLAND. CHAPTER XIV. THE FOREST OF GUM TREES, THE BLUE ANTELOPE, THE RALLIING SIGNAL, AN UNEXPECTED ATTACK, THE KAYAMI, A NIGHT IN THE OPEN AIR, THE MAMBO GURU, JIHUY LEMONKOA, A SUPPLY OF WATER, ARRIVAL AT KAZE. THE COUNTRY DRIED AND PARISHED AS IT WAS, CONSISTING OF A CLAY SOIL THAT CRACKED OPEN BY THE HEAT, SEEMED INDEED A DESERT. HERE AND THERE WERE A FEW TRACES OF CAREVANS, THE BONES OF MEN AND ANIMALS THAT HAVE BEEN HALF NOT AWAY, MULTURING TOGETHER IN THE SAME DUST. AFTER HALF AND HOURS WALKING, DICK AND JOE PLUNGED INTO A FOREST OF GUM TREES, THEIR EYES ALIT ON ALL SIDES, AND THEIR FINGERS ON THE TRIGGER. THERE WAS NO FORCING WHAT THEY MIGHT ENCOUNTER. WITHOUT BEING A RIFLEMAN, JOE COULD HANDLE FIREARMS WITH NO TRIFLING DIGSTERITY. A walk does one good, Mr. Kennedy, but this isn't the easiest ground in the world, he said, kicking aside some fragments of quartz with which the soil was bestrewed. Get any motion to his companion to be silent and to halt. The prison-cays compel them to dispense with hunting dogs, and, no matter what Joe's agility might be, he could not be expected to have the scent of a sedder or a ray hound. A herd of a dozen anibalopes were quenching their thirst in the bed of a torn, where some fools of water had lodged. The graceful creatures, snuffling danger in the breeze, seemed to be disturbed and uneasy. Their beautiful heads could be seen between every draft raised in the air with quick and sudden motion as they sniffed the air in the direction of our two hunters with their flexible nostrils. Kennedy stalled around behind some clumps of shrubbery, while Joe remained motionless where he was. The former at length got within gunshot and fired. The herd disappeared in the twinkly of an eye, one male antedalope only, that was hit just behind the shoulder joint, fell headlong to the ground and candidly leaped towards his booty. It was a blow-bock, a superb animal of a pale bluish color, shading upon the gray, but with the belly and the inside of the legs as white as the ribboned snow. A splendid shot it claimed the hunter. It's a very rare species of the antelope, and I hope to be able to prepare his skin in such a way as to keep it. Indeed, said Joe, do you think of doing that, Mr. Kennedy? Why, certainly I do. Just see what a fine hide it is. But Dr. Ferguson will never allow us to take such an extra weight. You're right, Joe. Still, it is a pity to have to leave such a noble animal. The whole of it? Oh, we won't do that, sir. We'll take all the good, eatable parts of it, and if you'll let me, I'll cut it up just as well as the chairman of the Honorable Corporations and Butchers of the City of London can do. As you please, my boy, but you know that in my hunter's way I can just as easily skin and cut up a piece of the game and just kill it. I'm sure of that, Mr. Kennedy. Well then, you can build a fireplace with a few stones, plenty of dry dead wood, and I can make the hot coals tell it a few minutes. Oh, that won't take long, said Kennedy, going to work on the fireplace, where he had a brisk flame crackling and sparkling in a minute or two. Joe had cut some of the nicest steaks and the best parts of the tenderloin from the carcass of the antelope, and these were quickly transformed to the most savoury of broils. There, those will tuck up the doctor, said Kennedy. Do you know what I was thinking about, said Joe? Why, about the steaks you're broiling to be sure, replied Dick. Not the least in the world. I was thinking what a frigor we'd cut if we couldn't find the balloon again. By George, what an idea. Why, do you think the doctor would desert us? No, but suppose his anchor were to slip. Impossible, and besides, the doctor would find no difficulty in coming down again with his balloon. He handles it at his ease. But suppose the wind were to sweep it off, so that he couldn't come back towards us. Come, come, Joe, a truce to your suppositions. There are anything but pleasant. Ah, sir, everything that happens in this world is natural, of course, but then anything may happen, and we ought to look out beforehand. At this moment the report of a gun rang out upon the air. What's that exclaim, Joe? It's my rifle. I know the ringer, said Kennedy. A signal? Yes, danger for us. For him too, perhaps. Let's be off. And the hunters, having gathered up the product of their expedition, rapidly made their way back along the path that they had marked by breaking bowels and bushes whence they came. The density on the brush prevented their seeing the balloon, although they could not be far from it. A second shot was heard. We must hurry, said Joe. There, a third report. Why, it sounds to me as if he was defending himself against something. Let us make haste. They now began to run at the top of their speed. When they reached the outskirts of the forest, they, at the first glance, saw the balloon in its place and the doctor in the car. What's the matter, shatty Kennedy? Good God, suddenly exclaimed, Joe. What do you see? Down there, look, a crowd of blacks surrounding the balloon. An effect there, two miles from where they were. They saw some thirty-walled natives close together, yelling, articulating, and cutting all kinds of antics at the foot of the sycamore. Some climbing into the tree itself were making their way to the topmost branches, the danger seen pressing. My master has lost, cried Joe. Come, a little more coolness, Joe, and let us see how we stand. We hold the lives of four of those villains in our hands. Forward, then. They had made a mile with headlong speed when another report was heard from the car. The shot had evidently towed upon a huge black demon who had been hoisting himself up by the anchor rope. A lifeless body fell from bow to bow, and hung about twenty feet from the ground, its arms and legs swaying to and fro in the air. Ha! said Joe, halting. What does that fellow hold by? No matter what, said Kennedy, let us run. Let us run. Ah, Mr. Kennedy, said Joe, again in a roar of laughter. By his tail, by his tail, it's an ape. They're all apes. Well, they're the worst of men, said Kennedy, as he dashed into the midst of the howling crowd. It was indeed a troop of very formidable baboons of the dog-faced species. These creatures are brutal, ferocious, and horrible to look upon, with their dog-like muzzles and savage expression. However, a few shots scattered them, and the chattering hordes camped off, leaving several of their umber on the ground. At a moment, Kennedy was on the ladder, and Joe, climbing up the branches, detached the anchor. The car then dipped to where he was, and he got into it without difficulty. A few minutes later, the victorious Lilius ended and soared away to the eastward, wafted by a moderate wind. That was an attack for you, said Joe. We thought you were surrounded by natives. Well, fortunately, they were only apes, said the doctor. At a distance there's no great difference, remarked Kennedy. No closer had either, added Joe. Well, however that may be, resumed Ferguson. This attack of apes might have had the most serious consequences, had the anchor yielded to their repeated efforts. Who knows whether the wind would have carried me. What did I tell you, Mr. Kennedy? You're right, Joe. But even right as you may have been, you were at that moment preparing some Adelov steaks, the very side of which gave you a monstrous appetite. I believe you, said the doctor. The flesh of the Adelov doesn't exquisite. You may judge of that yourself now, sir, for supper's ready. Upon my word as a sportsman, those venison steaks have a gammy flavor that's not to be sneezed at, I tell you. Good, said Joe with his mouth full. I could live on Adelov all the days of my life, and all the better with a glass of grog to wash it down. So saying the good fellow went to work to prepare a jorm of that fragrant beverage, and all hands tasted it with satisfaction. Everything is gone well thus far, said he. Very well indeed, ascended Kennedy. Come now, Mr. Kennedy. Are you sorry that you came with us? I'd like to see anybody prevent my coming. It was now four o'clock in the afternoon. The Victoria had struck a more rapid current. The face of the country was gradually rising, and air along the barometer indicated a height of 1,500 feet above the level of the sea. The doctor was, therefore, obliged to keep his balloon up by a quite considerable dilation of gas, and the cylinder was hard at work all the time. At seven o'clock the balloon was sailing over the basin of Kenyemi. The doctor immediately recognized that it meant clearing, ten miles in extent, with its villages buried in the midst of Baobab and Kalabash Trees. It is the residence of one of the sultans of the Ogogo country, where civilization is, perhaps, the least backward. The natives there are less addicted to selling members of their own families, but still men and animals all live together in round huts without frames that look like haystacks. Beyond Kenyemi, the soil becomes arid and stony, but in an hour's journey, in a freddled dip of the soil, vegetation had resumed all its vigor at some distance from Ndabru. The wind fell with the close of the day, and the atmosphere seemed to sleep. The doctor barely sought for a current of air at different heights, and at last, seeing this calm of all nature, he resolved to pass the night afloat, and for greater safety, rose to the height of 1,000 feet, where the blue remained motionless. The night was magnificent, the heavens gliding with stars, and profoundly silent in the upper air. Dick and Joe stretched themselves on their peaceful couch, who soon sound asleep, the doctor keeping the first watch. At twelve o'clock, the ladder was relieved by Kennedy. Should the slightest accident happen, waken me, said Ferguson, and above all things, though loose side of the barometer, to us it is the compass. The night was cold. There were twenty-seven degrees of difference between his temperature and night of the daytime, when nightfall had begun the nocturnal concert of animals, driven from their hiding places by hunger and thirst. The fog struck in their guttural soprano, redoubled by the yelping of the jackals, while the improvising bass at the African lion sustained the accords of this living orchestra. Upon resuming his post in the morning, the doctor consulted his compass, and found that the wind had changed during the night, the balloon had been bearing about thirty miles to the northwest during the last two hours. It was then passing over a bamboo guru, a stony country, strewn with rocks of cyanide, of a fine polish, a nod with huge boulders and angular ridges of rock. Codding masses like the rocks of Carnac studded the soil like so many juridic stalemans. The bones of buffaloes and elephants whitened it here and there, but few trees could be seen, excepting in the east where there were dense woods, among which a few villages lay half-concealed. Towards seven o'clock they saw a huge round rock, nearly two miles in extent, like an immense tortoise. On the right track, said Dr. Ferguson, there is Juhui La Mkoa, where we must halt for a few minutes. I am going to renew the supply of water necessary for my cylinder, and so let us try to anchor somewhere. There are very few trees, replied Dick. Never mind, let us try. Juhui threw out the anchors. The balloon, gradually losing its essential force, approached the ground. The anchors ran along until, at last, one of them caught in the fisher of a rock, and the balloon remained motionless. It must not be supposed that the doctor could entirely extinguish his cylinder during these halts. The equilibrium of the balloon had been calculated at the level of the sea, and as the country was continually ascending, and had reached an elevation of from six to seven hundred feet, the balloon would have had a tendency to go lower than the surface of the soil itself. It was therefore necessary to astate it by a certain dilation of the gas, but in case the doctor, in the absence of all wind, had let the car rest upon the ground, the balloon, thus relieved of a considerable weight, would have kept up of itself without the aid of the cylinder. The maps indicated extensive ponds on the western slope of the Juhui La Mkoa. Leo went dither alone, with a cask that would hold about ten gallons. He found the place pointed out to him without difficulty, near to a deserted village, got his stock of water, and returned in less than three-quarters of an hour. He had seen nothing particular except in those immense elephant pits, in fact he came very near falling into one of them, at the bottom of which lay a half-eaten carcass. He brought back with him a sort of clover which the apes eat with avidity. The doctor recognized the fruit of the Umbembu tree, which grows in profusion on the western part of Juhui La Mkoa. Ferguson waited for Joe with a certain feeling of impatience, for even a short halt in this inhospitable region always inspires a degree of fear. The water was got aboard without trouble, as the car was nearly resting on the ground. Joe then found it easy to loosen the anchor, and let flight lead to his place beside the doctor. The latter then replenished the flame in the cylinder, and the balloon majestically soared into the air. It was then about one hundred miles from Kaze, an important establishment in the interior of Africa, where, thanks to a south-southeast leak heard, the travelers might hope to arrive on that same day. They were moving at the rate of fourteen miles per hour, and the guidance of the balloon was becoming difficult, as they dared not rise very high without extreme dilation of the gas, the country itself being at an average height of three thousand feet. Hence the doctor preferred not to force the dilation, and so adroitly followed the sinuosities of a pretty sharply inclined plain, and swept very close to the villages of Thimbo and Turo Wells. The latter forms part of the Unyam-Wenzi, a magnificent country where the trees attain enormous dimensions, among them the cactus which grows to a gigantic size. About two o'clock, a magnificent weather, but under a fiery sun that devoured the least breadth of air, the balloon was floating over the town of Kaze, situated about three hundred and fifty miles from the coast. We left Zanzibar at nine o'clock in the morning, said the doctor, consulting his notes, and after two days' passage we have, including our deviations, traveled under the five hundred geographical miles. Zanzibar and Spiek took four months and a half to make the same distance. CHAPTER XV. 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. Voting by Alex C. Tallander, Davis, California. Five weeks in a balloon, or journeys and discoveries in Africa, by three Englishmen, by Jules Verne, translated by William Lackland. CHAPTER XV. Kaze, the noisy marketplace, the appearance of the balloon, the Wanganga, the sons of the moon, the doctor's walk, the population of the place, the royal tembe, the sultan's wives, a royal drunken belt, joe, an object of worship, how they dance in the moon, a reaction, two moons in one sky, the instability of divine honors. Kaze, an important point in Central Africa, is not a city. In truth, there are no cities in the interior. Kaze is but a collection of six extensive excavations. They are enclosed a few houses in slave-huts, with little courtyards and small gardens, carefully cultivated with onions, potatoes, cucumbers, pumpkins, and mushrooms, of perfect flavor, growing most leisurely. The Unyamwezi is the country of the moon, above all the rest, the fertile and magnificent garden spot of Africa. And it centers the district of Unyamnebe, a delicious region where some families of Omani, who are a very pure Arabic origin, live in luxurious idleness. They have, for a long period, held the commerce between the interior of Africa and Arabia. They traven in gums, ivory, fine muslin, and slaves. Their caravans traverse the equatorial regions on all sides, and they even make their way to the coast in search of those articles of luxury and enjoyment, which the multi-merchants covet. While the latter, surrounded by their wives and their attendants, lead in this charming country the least disturbed and most horizontal of lives, always stretched at full length, laughing, smoking, or sleeping. Around these excavations are numerous native dwellings, wide open spaces for the markets, fields of cannabis and datour, superb trees and depths of freshest shade, such as Kaze. There, too, is held the generous rendezvous of the caravans, those of the south with their slaves and their freightage of ivory, and those of the west which export cotton, glassware, and trinkets to the tribes of the Great Lakes. So in the marketplace there reigns perpetual excitement, a nameless hubbub, made up of cries of mixed breed porters and carriers, the beating of drums and the twanging of horns, the naing of mules, the braying of donkeys, the singing of women, the squalling of children, and the banging of the huge ratan, wielded by the gemadar or leader of the caravans, who beats time to his pastoral symphony. There, spread forth without regard to order, indeed we may say in charming disorder are the showy stuffs, the glass beads, the ivory tusks, the rhinoceros teeth, the sharks teeth, the honeys, the tobacco, and the cotton of these regions to be purchased at the strangest of bargains by customers, in whose eyes each article has a price only proportion to the desire it excites to possess it. All at once this agitation movement and noise stopped as though by magic. The balloon had just come inside, far aloft in the sky, where it hovered majestically for a few moments, and then descended slowly, without deviating from its perpendicular. Men, women, children, merchants and slaves, Arabs and Negroes, as suddenly disappeared within the timbés and the huts. My dear doctor, said Kennedy, if we continue to produce such a sensation as this, we will find some difficulty in establishing commercial relations with the people hereabouts. There is one kind of trait that we might carry on, though, easily enough, said Joe, and that would be to go down there quietly and walk off with the best of the goods without troubling our heads about the merchants. We'd get rich that way. Ah, said the doctor. These natives are a little scared at first, but they won't be long in coming back, either through suspicion or through curiosity. Do you really think so, doctor? Well, we'll see pretty soon, but it wouldn't be prudent to go near to them, or for the balloon is not ironclad, and is, therefore, not proof against either an arrow or bullet. Then you expect to hold a parley with these blacks? If we can do so safely, why should we not? There must be some Arab merchants here at Kaze, who are better informed than the rest, and not so barbarous. I remember the Burton and Speak had nothing but praises to utter concerning the hospitality of these people, so we might at least make the venture. The balloon having meanwhile gradually approached the ground, one of the anchors lodged in the top of a tree near the market place. By this time the whole population had emerged from their hiding places stealthily, thrusting their heads out first. Several waganga, recognizable by their badges of conical shell work, came boldly forward. They were the sorcerers of the place. They bore in their girdles small gourds, coated with tallow, and several other articles of wedgecraft. All of them, by the way, most professionally filthy. Little by little the crowd gathered beside them. The women and children grouped around them. The drones renewed their deafening roar. Hands were violently clapped together, and then raised toward the sky. That's their style of pranks of the doctor. And if I'm not mistaken, we're going to be called upon to play a great part. Well, sir, play it. You too, my good Joe. Perhaps you too, be a god. Well, Master, that won't trouble me much. I like a little flattery. At this moment one of the sorcerers of Mianga made a sign, and all the climber died away into the profoundest silence. He then addressed a few words to the strangers, but in an unknown tongue. Dr. Ferguson, not having understood them, shouted some sentences in Arabic, at a venture, and was immediately answered in that language. The speaker below then delivered himself of a very copious harangue, which was also very foul and very gravely listened to by his audience. Permit the doctor was not slow in learning that the balloon was mistaken for nothing less than the moon in person, and that the amiable goddess in question had condescended to approach the town with her three sons, an honor that would never be forgotten in this land, so greatly loved by the God of day. The doctor responded with much dignity that the moon made her provincial tour every thousand years, feeling the necessity of showing herself nearer at hand to her worshippers. He therefore begged them not to be disturbed by her presence, but to make advantage of it to make known all their wants and longings. The sorcerer in his turn replied that the sultan Damwani, who had been very sick for many years, implored the aid of heaven, and he invited the son of the moon to visit him. The doctor acquainted his companions with the invitation, and you were going to call upon this new-girl king, asked Kennedy? Undoubtedly so. These people appear well-disposed. The air is calm. There is not a breath of wind, and we have nothing to fear for the balloon. But what will you do? Be quiet on that score, my dear Dick. With a little medicine I shall work my way through the affair. Then, addressing the crowd, he said, The moon, taking compassion of the sovereign who is so dear to the children of Unyamwezi, has charged us to restore him to health. Let him prepare to receive us. The climber of the songs and demonstrations of all kinds increased twofold, and the whole immense ant's nest of blackheads was again in motion. Now, my friends, said Dr. Ferguson, we must look out for everything beforehand. We may be forced to leave this at any moment unexpectedly and be off with extra speed. Dick had better remain therefore in the car, and keep it still in the warm so as to secure a sufficient essential force for the balloon. The anchor is solidly fastened, and there is nothing to fear in that respect. I shall descend, and Jail will go with me, only that he must remain at the foot of the ladder. What, are you going alone in that Blackamore's den? How, Doctor, am I not to go with you? No, I shall go alone. These good folks imagine that the goddess of the moon has come to see them, and their superstition protects me, so have no fear, and each woman remain at the post that I have assigned to him. Well, since you wish, sighed Kennedy, looked closely to the dilation of the gas, agreed. By this time the shouts of the natives had swallowed a double volume as they vehemently implored the aid of the heavenly powers. There there, I said Joe, they're rather rough in their orders to their good moon and her divine sons. The Doctor, equipped with his traveling medicine jest, descended to the ground, proceeded by Joe, who kept a straight countenance and looked as grave and knowing as the circumstances of the case required. He then seated himself at the foot of the ladder in the Arab fashion, with his legs crossed under him, and a portion of the crowd collected around him in a circle, at respectful distances. In the meanwhile the Doctor escorted to the sound of savaged instruments and with wild religious dances, slowly proceeded towards the royal timbre, situated a considerable distance outside of the town. It was about three o'clock, and the sun was shining brilliantly. In fact, what less could it do upon so grand an occasion. The Doctor stepped along with great dignity, though a gong was surrounding him and keeping off the crowd. He was soon joined by the natural son, the Sultan, and handsomely built young fellow, who, according to the customer of the country, was the sole heir of the paternal goods, to the exclusion of the old man's legitimate children. He frustrated himself before the sun of the moon, but the ladder graciously raised him to his feet. Three quarters of an hour later, through shady paths, surrounded by all the luxuriance of tropical vegetation, this enthusiastic procession arrived at the Sultan's palace, a sort of square edifice called Ititinya, and situated on the slope of the hill, a kind of veranda formed by the thatched roof adorned the outside, supported upon wooden pillars, which had some pretensions to be encarved. Long lines of dark-gray clay decorated the walls and characters that strove to pre-produce the forms of men and serpents, to that a better imitative, of course, than the former. The roofing of this abode did not rest directly upon the walls, and the air could, therefore, circulate freely, but windows there were none, and the door hardly deserved the name. Dr. Ferguson was received with all the honors by the guards and favorites of the Sultan. These were men of a fine race, the Wanyomwezi, so-called a puritype of the central African populations, strong, robust, well-made, and in splendid condition. Their hair, divided into a great number of small tresses, fell over their shoulders, and by means of black and blue incisions they had tattooed their cheeks from the temples to the mouth. Their ears, frightfully distended, held dangling to them of discs of wood and plates of gum-cople. They were clad in brilliantly-painted cloths, and the soldiers were armed with the saw-tooth war-club. The bow and arrows barved and poisoned with the juice of the euphorium, the cutlass, the simmer, a long saber, along with saw-like teeth, and some small battle-axes. The doctor advanced into the palace, and there, notwithstanding the Sultan's illness, the din, which was terrific before, redoubled the instant that he arrived. He noticed at the lintels of the door some rabbit's tails and zebra mains, suspended his talismans. He was received by the whole troop of his Majesty's wives to the harmonious accords of the Opatu, a sort of symbol made at the bottom of a copper kettle, and to the opera of the Kililnu, a drum five feet high, hauled out from the trunk of a tree, and hammered by the ponderous horny fist of two jet-black virtuosi. Most of the women were rather good-looking, and they laughed and chattered merrily as they smoked their tobacco and sang in huge black pipes. They seemed to be well made, too, under the long robes they wore, gracefully flung about their persons, and carried a sort of kilt, woven from the fibers of kalabash fashioned around their girdles. Six of them were not the least merry of the party, although put aside from the rest and reserved for a cruel fate. On the death of the Sultan they would be buried alive with him, so as to occupy and divert his mind during the period of eternal solitude. Dr. Ferguson, taking in the whole scene at a rapid glance, approached the wooden couch on which the Sultan lay reclining. Then he saw a man of about forty, completely brutalized by orgies of every description, and in a condition that left little or nothing to be done. The sickness that had afflicted him for so many years was simply perpetual drunkenness. The royal sot had nearly lost all consciousness, and all the ammonia in the world would not have set him on his feet again. His favorites and the women kept on bended knees during his solemn visit. By mean of a few drops of powerful cordial, the doctor for a moment reanimated the imprudent carcass that lay before him. The Sultan stirred, and for a dead body that had given no sign whatever of life for several hours previously, the symptom was received with a tremendous repetition of shouts and cries in the doctor's honor. The latter who had seen enough of it by this time, by a rapid motion put aside his two demonstrative amiris and went out of the palace, directing his steps immediately toward the balloon, for it was now six o'clock in the evening. Joe, during his absence, had been quietly waiting at the foot of the latter, where the crowd paid him their most humble respects. Like a genuine son of the moon, he let them keep on. For a divinity, he had the air of a very clever sort of fellow, by no means proud. Nay, even pleasantly familiar with the young negrises, who seemed never to tire love looking at him. Besides, he went so far as to chat agreeably with them. Worship me, ladies, worship me, he said to them. I'm a clever sort of devil, if I am the son of a goddess. They brought him propitiary gifts, such as are usually deposited in the Fetich Hutz or Mzimu. These gifts consisted of stalks of Bargley and of Pumbe. Joe considered himself in duty vow to taste the latter species of strong beer, but his palate, although accustomed to gin and whiskey, could not withstand the strength of the new beverage, and he had to make a horrible grimace, which his dusty friends took to be a benevolent smile. Thereupon the young Danzels, conjoining their voices in a drawing chant, began to dance around him with the utmost gravity. Ah, you're dancing, are you, said he? Well, I won't be behind you in politeness, and so I'll give you one of my country reels. So added he went, in one of the wildest jigs that ever was seen, twisting, turning, and jerking himself in all directions. Dancing with his hands, dancing with his body, dancing with his knees, dancing with his feet, describing the most fearful contortions and extravagant evolutions, throwing himself into incredible attitudes, grimacing beyond all belief, and in fine giving his savage admirers a strange idea of the style of ballet adopted by the deities in the moon. Then the whole collection of blacks, naturally as imitative as monkeys, at once reproduced all his heirs and graces, his leaps and shakes and contortions. They did not lose a single gesticulation, they did not forget an attitude, and the result was such a pandemonium of movement, noise, and excitement, as it would be out of the question even feebly to describe. But in the very midst of the fun, Joe saw the doctor approaching. The latter was coming at full speed, surrounded by yelling and disorderly throng. The chiefs and surfers that were seen to be highly excited, they were close upon the doctor's heels, crowding and threatening him. Singular reaction, what had happened, had the sultan unluckily perished in the hands of his celestial physician. Kennedy, for his post of observation, saw the danger without knowing what had caused it, and the balloon powerfully urged by the dilation of the gas, strained and tugged at the ropes that held it as though impatient to soar away. The doctor had got as far as the foot of the latter. A superstitious fear still held the crowd aloof and hinted them from committing any violence on his person. He rapidly scaled the latter, and Joe followed him with his usual agility. Not a moment to lose, said the doctor. Don't attempt to let go of the anchor. We'll cut the cord. Follow me. But what's the matter, asked Joe, clambering into the car? What's happened? questioned Kennedy, rifle in hand. Look, replied the doctor, pointing to the horizon. Well, ejected the scot? Well, the moon. And in fact, there was the moon rising red in magnificent, a glow of fire and a field of blue. It was she indeed, she and the balloon, both in one sky. Either there were two moons then, or these strangers were imposters, designing scamps, false deities, such were the very natural reflections of the crowd, and hence the reaction in their feelings. Joe could not, for the life of him, keep in a roar of laughter, and the population of Kaze, comprehending that their pray was slipping through their clutches, set up prolonged howlings, aiming, or the while, their bows and muskets of the balloon. But one of the sorcerers made a sign, and all the weapons were lowered. He then began to climb into the tree, intending to seize the rope and bring the machine to the ground. Joe leaned out with a hatchet ready. Should I cut away, said he? No, wait a moment, replied the doctor. But this black? We may perhaps save our anchor, and I hold a great deal by that. Though always be time enough to cut loose. The sorcerer, having climbed to the right place, worked so vigorously that he succeeded in detaching the anchor. And the latter violently jerked at that moment by the start of the balloon, caught the rascal between the limbs, and carried him off his stride of it through the air. This stupid faction of the crowd was indescribable, as they saw one of their waganga thus whirled away into space. Huzzah! Roar, Joe, as the balloon, thanks to his essential force, shut up higher into the sky with increased rapidity. He holds on well, said Kennedy. A little trip will do him good. Shall we let this darky drop all at once, inquired Joe? All know, replied the doctor. We'll let him down easily. And I warned me that after such an adventure the power of the wizard will be enormously enhanced in the sight of his comrades. Why, I wouldn't put it past them to make a god of him, said Joe, with a laugh. The Victoria, by this time, had risen to the height of one thousand feet, and the black hung to the rope with desperate energy. He had become completely silent, and his eyes were fixed, for his terror was blended with amazement. A light west wind was sweeping the balloon right over the town and far beyond it. Half an hour later, the doctor, seeing the country deserted, moderated the flame of his cylinder, and descended toward the ground. At twenty feet above the turf, the affrighted sorcerer made up his mind in a twinkling. He let himself drop, fell on his feet, and scamped off at a furious pace toward Kazee, while the balloon suddenly relieved of his weight, again shut up on her course. End of Chapter 15 of Five Weeks in a Balloon Recording by Alex E. Tlander Davis, California www.alexetalander.com Chapter 16 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 E. Tlander Davis, California Five Weeks in a Balloon or Journeys and Discoveries in Africa by Three Englishmen by Jules Verne translated by William Lackland Chapter 16 Symptoms of a Storm The Country of the Moon The Future of the African Continent The Last Machine of All A View of the Country at Sunset Floor and Fauna The Tempest The Zone of Fire The Starry Heavens See, said Joe, what comes of playing the Sons of the Moon without her leave? She came near serving us an ugly trick. But say, Master, did you damage your credit as a physician? Yes, indeed, chimed in the sportsman. What kind of a dignitary was this Sultan of Kazee? An old half-dead sought, replied the doctor, whose loss will not be very severely felt. But the moral of all this is that honors are fleeting, and we must not take too great a fancy to them. So much the worse for Jo and Joe. I like the thing to be worshipped, play the gods as you like. Why, what would anyone ask more of that? By the way, the moon did come up, too, and all red, as if she was in a rage. While the three friends went on chatting of this and other things, and Joe examined the Luminary of Night from an entirely novel point of view, the heavens became covered with heavy clouds to the northward, and the lowering masses assumed a most sinister and threatening look. Quite a smart breeze, found about 300 feet from the earth, drove the balloon toward the north northeast, and above it the blue vault was clear, but the atmosphere felt close and dull. The aeronauts found themselves at about eight in the evening in 32 degrees, 40 minutes east longitude, and 4 degrees, 17 minutes latitude. The atmospheric currents under the influence of a tempest, not far off, were driving them at the rate of from 30 to 35 miles an hour. The undulating infertile plains of Mfutu were passing swiftly beneath them. The spectacle was one where they have admiration and admire it they did. We are now right in the country the moon, said Dr. Ferguson, for it has retained the name that antiquity gave it, undoubtedly because the moon has been worshiped there in all ages. It is, really, a superb country. It would be hard to find more splendid vegetation. If we found the like of it around London, it would not be natural, but it would be very pleasant put in Joe. Why is it that such savage countries get all these fine things? And who knows, said the doctor, that this country may not one day become the center of civilization. The races of the future may repair hither when Europe shall have become exhausted in the effort to feed her inhabitants. Do you think so, really, asked Kennedy? Undoubtedly, my dear Dick. Just note the progress of events. Consider the migrations of races, and you will arrive at the same conclusion assuredly. Asia was the first nurse of the world was she not? For about four thousand years she travailed, she grew pregnant, she produced, and then, when stones began to cover the soil where the golden harvest sung by Homer had flourished, her children abandoned her exhausted and by iron bosom. You next see them precipitating themselves upon young and vigorous Europe, which has nourished them for the past two thousand years, but already her fertility is beginning to die out. Her productive powers are diminishing every day. Those new diseases that annually attack the products of the soils, those defective crops, those insufficient resources, are all signs of a vitality that is rapidly wearing out and of an approaching exhaustion. Thus we already see the millions of rushing to the exuriant bosom of America as a source of help, not inexhaustible indeed, but not yet exhausted. In its turn that new continent will grow old, its virgin forest will fall before the acts of industry, and its soil will become weak through having too fully produced what has been demanded of it. Where two harvests bloomed every year, hardly one will be gathered from a soil completely drained of its strength. Then Africa will be there to offer the new races, the treasures that for centuries have been accumulating in her breast. Those climates now so fatal to strangers will be purified by cultivation and by drainage of the soil, and those scattered water supplies will be gathered in one common bed to form an artery of navigation. Then this country over which we are now passing, more fertile, richer and fuller of vitality than the rest, will become some grand realm where more astonishing discoveries than steam and electricity will be brought to light. Ah, sir, said Joe, I'd like to see all that. You got up too early in the morning, my boy. Besides, said Kennedy, that may prove to be a very dull period when industry will swallow up everything for its own profit. By dint of inventing machinery, men will end in being eaten up by it. I have always fancied that the end of the earth will be when some enormous boiler heated to 3,000 millions of atmospheric pressure shall explode and blow up our globe. And I add that the Americans, said Joe, would not have been the last to work at the machine. In fact, ascented the doctor, they are great bollermakers, but without allowing ourselves to be carried away by such speculations, let us rest content with enjoying the beauties of this country, the moon, since we have been permitted to see it. The sun, darting his last rays beneath the masses of heaped-out cloud, adorned with a crest of gold the slightest inequalities of the ground below. Gigantic trees, arborescent bushes, mosses on the even surface, all had their share of this luminous effulgence. The soil, slightly undulating, here and there rose into little conical hills. There were no mountains visible on the horizon, immensely brambly palisades, impenetrable hedges of thorny jungle, separated the clearing, started with numerous villages, and immense euphorbiae surrounded them with natural fortifications, interlacing their trunks with the coral-shaped branches of the shrubbery and undergrowth. Air along the Balagazeri, the chief chivalry of Lake Tanganyika, was seen winding between heavy thickets of verder, offering an asylum to many water-courses that sprang from the torrents formed in the season of freshets or from ponds hollowed in the clay soil. To observe as looking from a height, it was a chain of waterfalls thrown across the whole western face of the country. Animals with huge humps were feeding in luxuriant prairies and were half-hidden, sometimes in the tall grass. Spreading forests and bloom, redolent of spicy perfumes presented themselves to the gaze like immense bouquets. But in these bouquets, lions, leopards, hyenas, and tigers were then crouching for shelter from the last hot rays of the setting sun. From time to time, an elephant made the tall tops of the undergrowth swayed to and fro, and you could hear the crackling of huge branches as his ponderous ivy tusks broke them in his way. What a sporting country, exclaimed Dick, unable longer to restrain his enthusiasm. Why a single ball fired at random into those forests would bring down gain worthy of it. Suppose we try it once. No, my dear Dick, the night is closed at hand, a threatening night with a tempest in the background, and the storms are awful in this country, but the heated soil is like one vast electric battery. You're right, sir, said Joe. The heat has got to be enough to choke one, and the breeze has died away. One could feel that something's coming. The atmosphere is saturated with electricity, replied the doctor. Every living creature is sensible that the state of the air portends a struggle of the elements, and I confess that I never before was so full of the fluid myself. Well then, suggested Dick, would it not be advisable to alight? On the contrary, Dick, I'd rather go up, only that I am afraid of being carried out of my course by these counter-occurrence contending in the atmosphere. Have you any idea, then, of abandoning the route that we have followed since we left the coast? If I can manage to do so, replied the doctor, I will turn more directly northward, by from seven to eight degrees. I shall then endeavor to ascend toward the presumed latitudes of the sources of the Nile. Past we may discover some traces of Captain Speaks' expedition, or of M. de Hoeglen's caravan. Unless I am mistaken, we are at thirty-two degrees, forty minutes east longitude, and I should like to ascend directly north of the equator. Look there, exclaimed Kennedy, suddenly. See those perpautomai sliding out of the pools, those masses of blood-cluttered flesh, and those crocodiles snuffing the air aloud? They're choking, ejaculated Joe. Ah, what a fine way to travel this is, and how one could snap his fingers at all that vermin. Doctor, Mr. Kennedy, see those packs of wild animals hurrying along close together. There are fully two hundred. Those are wolves. No, Joe, not wolves, but wild dogs, a famous breed that does not hesitate to attack the lion himself. They are the worst customers a traveller could meet, for they would instantly tear him to pieces. Well, it isn't Joe that'll undertake to muzzle them, responded the amiable youth. After all, though if that's the nature of the beast, we mustn't be too hard on them for it. Silence gradually settled down under the influence of the impending storm. The thickened air actually seemed no longer adept to the transmission of sound. The atmosphere appeared muffled, and like a room hung with tapestry lost all its sonorous reverberation. The rover bird, so-called, the coroneted crane, the red and blue jays, the mockingbird, the flying catcher, disappeared among the foliage of the immense trees, and all nature revealed symptoms of some approaching catastrophe. At nine o'clock the Victoria hung motionless over Mnsene, an extensive group of villages scarcely distinguishable in the gloom. Once in a while the reflection of a wandering ray of light in the dull water disclosed a succession of ditches regularly arranged, and by one last gleam the eye could make out the calm and somber forms of palm trees, sycamores, and gigantic euphorbia. I in stifling said the scot, inhaling, with all the power of his lungs, as much as possible of the rarefied air. We are not moving an inch, let us descend. But the tempest said the doctor with much uneasiness. If you're afraid of being carried away by the wind, it seems to me that there is no other course to pursue. Perhaps the storm won't burst tonight, said Joe. The clouds are very high. This is just the thing that makes me hesitate about going beyond them. We should have to rise still higher, lose sight of the earth, and not know all night whether we were moving forward or not, or in what direction we were going. Make up your mind, dear doctor, for time presses. It's a pity that the wind has fallen, said Joe again. It would have cared as clear of the storm. It is indeed a pity, my friends, rejoin the doctor. The clouds are dangerous for us. They contain opposing currents which might catch us up in their eddies, and lightnings that might set on fire. Again, those perils avoided. The force of the tempest might hurl us to the ground, or we to cast our anchor in the treetops. Then what shall we do? Well, we must try to get the blood into a medium zone of the atmosphere, and there keep us suspended between the perils of the heavens and those of the earth. We have enough water for the cylinder, and our two hundred pounds of ballast are untouched. In case of emergency, I can use them. We will keep watch with you, said the hunter. No, my friends. Put the provisions under shelter and lie down. I will rouse you if it becomes necessary. But, master, wouldn't you do well to take some rest yourself, as there's no danger close on us just now, insisted poor Joe. No, thank you, my good fellow. I prefer to keep awake. We are not moving, and should circumstances not change, we'll find ourselves tomorrow in exactly the same place. Good night, then, sir. Good night, if you could only find it so. Kennedy and Joe stretch themselves out under their blankets, and the doctor remained alone in the immensity of space. However, the huge dome of clouds visibly descended, and the darkness became profound. The black vault closed in upon the earth as if to crush it in its embrace. All at once, a violent rapid incisive flash of lightning pierced the gloom, and the rent it made had not closed ere a frightful clap of thunder shook the celestial depths. Up, up, turn out, shouted Ferguson. The two sleepers aroused by the terrible concussion where the doctor's orders in a moment. Shall we descend, said Kennedy? No, the balloon could not stand it. Let's go up before those clouds dissolve in water, and the wind is let loose. And so, saying, the doctor actively stirred up the flame at the cylinder and turned it on the spirals of the serpentine siphon. The tempests of the tropics developed with a rapidity equaled only by their violence. A second flash of lightning read the darkness, and was followed by a score of others in quick succession. The sky was crossed and dotted like the zebras hide with electric sparks which danced and flickered beneath the great drops of rain. We have delayed too long, exclaimed the doctor. We was now past the rhizonal fire, where their balloon filled as it is with inflammable gas. But let us descend, then. Let us descend, urged Kennedy. The risk of being struck would be just about even, and we should soon be torn to pieces by the branches of the trees. We are growing up, doctor. Quicker, quicker still. In this part of Africa, during the equatorial storms, it is not rare to count from thirty to thirty-five flashes of lightning per minute. The sky is literally on fire, and the crashes of thunder are continuous. The wind burst forth with frightful violence in this burning atmosphere. It twisted the blazing clouds. One might have compared it to the breath of some gigantic bellows, fanning all this conflagration. Dr. Ferguson kept his cylinder at full heat, and the balloon dilated and went up while Kennedy, on his knees, held together the curtains of the awning. The balloon whirled round wildly enough to make their heads turn, and the aeronauts got some very alarming jolts, indeed, as the machine swung and swayed in all directions. Huge cavities would form in the silk of the balloon as the wind fiercely bent it in, and the stuff fairly cracked like a pistol as it flew back from the pressure. A sort of hail proceeded by a rumbling noise, hissed through the air, and rattled on the covering of the Victoria. The latter, however, continued to ascend, while the lightning described tangents to the convexity of her circumference, but she bore on, right through the midst of the fire. God protect us, said Ferguson solemnly. We are in his hands, he alone can save us, but let us be ready for every event, even for fire, or a fall could not be very rapid. The doctor's voice could seriously be heard by his companions, but they could see his counten as calm as ever, even amid the flashings of the lightnings. He was watching the phenomena of phosphorescence produced by the fires of St. Elmo. They were now skipping to and furrow along the network of the balloon. The latter whirled and swung, but suddenly ascended, and air of the hour was over. It had passed the stormy belt. The electric display was going on below it like a vast crown of artificial fireworks suspended from the car. Then they enjoyed one of the grandest spectacles the nature can offer to the gaze of man. Below them the tempest, above them the starry firmoot, tranquil, mute, impassable, with the moon projecting her peaceful rays over these angry killouts. Dr. Ferguson consulted the perimeter. It announced twelve thousand feet of elevation. It was then eleven o'clock at night. Thank heaven, all danger has passed. All we have to do now is to keep ourselves at this height, said the doctor. It was frightful, remarked Kennedy. All said Joe. It gives a little variety to the trip, and I'm not sorry to have seen a storm from a trifling distance up in the air. It's a fine sight. Recording by Alexi Talander Davis, California Five weeks in a balloon or Journeys and Discoveries in Africa by Three Englishmen by Jules Verne translated by William Lacklin Chapter 17 The Mountains of the Moon An Ocean of Verder They cast anchor The towing elephant A running fire Death of the monster The field oven A meal on the grass A night on the ground About four in the morning, Monday, the sun reappeared in the horizon. The clouds had dispersed and a cherry breeze refreshed the morning dawn. The earth, all redolent with fragrant exhalations, reappeared to the gaze of our travelers. The balloon world about, by opposing currents, had hardly budged from its place, and the doctor, letting the gas contract, descended so as to get a more northly direction. For a long while his quest was fruitless. The wind carried him towards the west until he came inside of the famous mountains of the moon. Which grew themselves in a semicircle around the extremity of Lake Tanganyika. Their ridges, but slightly indented, stood out against the bluish horizon so that they might have been mistaken for a natural fortification, not to be passed by the explorers of the center of Africa. Among them were a few isolated cones revealing the mark of the eternal snows. Here we are at last at the doctor in an unexplored country. Captain Burton pushed very far to the westward, but he could not reach those celebrated mountains. He even denied their existence, strongly as it was affirmed by Speak, his companion. He pretended they were born in the latter's fancy, but for us, my friends, there is no further doubt possible. Shall we cross the mass, Kennedy? No, if it please, God. I am looking for a wind that will take me back toward the equator. I will even wait for one, if necessary, and will make the balloon like a ship that casts anchor until favorable breezes come up. But the foresight of the doctor was not long in bringing its reward. Far after having tried different heights, the Victorian length began to sail off to the north eastward with medium speed. We were in the right tracks at the doctor, consulting his compass, and scarcely 200 feet from the surface. Lucky circumstances for us, enabling us, as they do, to recognize these new regions. When Captain Speak set out to discover Lake Ookirui, he ascended more to the eastward in a straight line above Kazae. Shall we keep on longer this way, inquired the Scott? Perhaps. Our object is to push a point in the direction of the sources of the Nile, and we have more than 600 miles to make before we get to the extreme limit reached by the explorers who came from the north. And we shan't set foot on the solid ground, murmur Joe. It's enough to cramp a fellow's legs. Oh yes indeed, my good Joe, said the doctor, reassuring him. We have to economize our provisions, you know. And on the way, Dick, you must get us some fresh meat. Wherever you like, doctor. We shall also have to replenish our stock of water. Who knows, but we may have be carried to some of the dried-up regions, so we cannot take too many precautions. At noon the Victoria was at 29 degrees, 15 minutes east longitude, and 3 degrees, 15 minutes south latitude. She passed the village of Uofu, the last northern limit of the Unyamwezi, opposite to the lake Ukarui, which could still be seen. The tribes living near to the equator seem to be a little more civilized and are governed by absolute monarchs, whose control is an unlimited despotism. The most compact union of power constitutes the province of Karagwa. It was decided by the aeronauts that they would alight at the first favorable place. They found that they should have to make a prolonged halt and take a careful inspection of the balloon, so the flame of the cylinder was moderated and the anchors flung out from the car. Air along began to sweep the grass of an immense prairie that, from a certain height, looked like a shaven lawn, but the growth of which, in reality, was from seven to eight feet in height. The balloon skin this tall grass without bending it, like a gigantic butterfly. Not an obstacle was in sight. It was an ocean of verder, without a single breaker. We might proceed a long time in this style or Mark Kennedy. I don't see one tree that we could approach and are afraid that our hunt's over. Wait, Dick. You could not hunt anyhow in this grass. That grows higher than your head. We'll find a favorable place presently. In truth, it was a charming excursion that they were making now. A veritable navigation on this green, almost transparency, gently undulating in the breath of the wind. The little car seemed to cleave the ways of verder, and from time to time, covies of birds of magnificent plumage would rise, thuddering from the tall earbridge and speed away with joyous cries. The anchors plunged into this leg of flowers and traced a furrow that closed behind them like the wake of a ship. All at once a sharp shock was felt. The anchor had caught in the fissure of some rock hidden in the high grass. We are fast, exclaimed Joe. These words had scarcely been uttered when a shrill cry rang through the air and the following phrases mingled with exclamations escaped from the lips of our travellers. What's that? A strange cry. Look! Why, we're moving. The anchor has slipped. No, it holds, and holds fast too, said Joe, who was tugging at the rope. It's the rock, then, that's moving. An immense rustling was noticed in the grass, and soon an elongated winding shape was seen rising above it. A serpent shouted Joe. A serpent repeated Kennedy, handling his rifle. No said the doctor. It's an elephant's trunk. An elephant's Samuel? And as Kennedy said this, he drew his rifle to his shoulder. Wait, Dick, wait! That's a fact. The animal's towing us. And in the right direction, the elephant was now making some headway, and soon reached clearing where his whole body could be seen. By his gigantic size, the doctor recognized a male of a superb species. He had two whitish tusks, beautifully curved, at about eight feet in length, and in these, the shanks of the anchor had firmly caught. The animal was vainly trying with his trunk to disengage himself from the rope that attached him to the car. Get up. Go ahead, old fellow, shouted Joe with delight, doing his best to urge this rather novel team. Here is a new style of traveling. No more horses for me. An elephant, if you please. But where is he taking us to, said Kennedy, whose rifle itched in his grasp? He's taking us exactly to where we want to go, my dear Dick. A little patience. Wicca more. Wicca more, as a scotch-colon tree folks say, shouted Joe in a high glee. Gee up. Gee up there. The huge animal now broke into a very rapid gallop. He flung his trunk from side to side and his monstrous bounds gave the car several rather heavy thumps. Meanwhile the doctor stood ready, hatched it in hand, to cut the rope should need arise. But, said he, it shall not give up our anchor until the last moment. This drive, with an elephant for the team, lasted about an hour and a half, yet the animal did not seem in the least fatigued. These immense creatures can go over a great deal of ground, and from one day to another are found at enormous distances from there they were last seen, like the whales, whose mass and speed they rival. In fact, said Joe, it's a whale that we have harpooned, and we're only doing just what whelan do when out fishing. But a change in the nature of the ground compelled the doctor to vary his style of locomotion. A dense grove of calmadors was described on the horizon about three miles away on the north of the prairie. So it became necessary to attach the balloon from his draught animal at last. Kennedy was interested with the job of bringing the elephant to a halt. He drew his rifle to his shoulder, but his position was not favorable to a successful shot, so that the first ball fired, flattened itself on the animal's skull, as it would have done against an iron plate. The creature did not seem in the least troubled by it, but at the sound of the discharge he had increased his speed and now was going as fast as a horse at full gallop. The dew, said Jack-lady Kennedy. What a solid heat, commented Joe. We'll try some conical balls behind the shoulder joints, said Kennedy, reloading his rifle with care. At another moment he fired. The animal gave a terrible cry if it went on faster than ever. Come, said Joe, taking aim with another gumpin. I must help you, or we'll never end it, and now two balls penetrated the creature's hide. The elephant halted, led to his trunk, and resumed his run towards the woods with all his speed. He shook his huge head, and the blood began to gush from his wounds. Let us keep up our fire, Mr. Kennedy, and a continuous fire too urged the doctor, for we are close to the woods. Ten shots more were discharged. The elephant made a fearful bound. The car and balloon cracked as though everything were growing to pieces, and the shock made the doctor drop his hatchet on the ground. The situation was thus rendered really very alarming. The anchor rope, which had securely caught, could not be disengaged, nor could it yet be cut by the knives of our aeronauts, and the balloon was rushing headlong toward the wood when the animal received a ball in the eye just as he lifted his head. On this he halted, faltered. His knees bent under him, and he uncovered his whole flank to the assaults of his enemies in the balloon. A bullet in his heart, said Kennedy, discharging one last rifle shot. The elephant uttered a long bellow of terror and agony, then raised himself up for a moment, twirling his trunk in the air, and finally fell with all his weight upon one of his tusks, which he broke off short. He was dead. His tusks broke and exclaimed Kennedy. Ivory, too, that in England would bring thirty-five guineas per hundred pounds. As much as that, said Joe, scrambling down to the ground by the anchor rope. What's the use of sighing over it, Dick, said the doctor? Are we ivory merchants to become hitherto make money? Joe examined the anchor and found it solidly attached to the unbroken tusk. The doctor and Dick leapt out on the ground while the balloon now half-emptied, hovered over the body of the huge animal. What a splendid beast, said Kennedy. What a massive flesh! I never saw an elephant of that size in India. There's nothing surprising about that, my dear Dick. The elevenths of Central Africa are the finest in the world. The Andersons and the Cummings have hunted so incessantly in the neighborhood of the Cape that these animals have migrated to the equator where they are often met within large herds. In the meanwhile, I hope, added Joe, that we'll taste a morsel of this fellow. I'll undertake to get you a good dinner at his expense. Mr. Kennedy will go off and hunt for an hour or two. The doctor will make an inspection of the balloon, and while they're busy in that way, I'll do the cooking. A good arrangement, said the doctor. So do as you like, Joe. As for me, said the hunter, I shall avail myself of the two hours recess that Joe has condescended to let me have. Go, my friend, but no impotence. Don't wander too far away. Never fear, doctor. And so, saying, Dick's shouldering his gun plunged into the woods. Fourth with Joe went to work at his vocation. At first he made a hole on the ground, two feet deep. This he filled with the dry wood that was so abundantly scattered about, where it had been strewn by the elephants, whose tracks could be seen where they had made their way through the forest. This whole field he heaped a pile of faggots on it, a foot in height, and set fire to it. Then he went back to the carcass of the elephant, which had fallen only about a hundred feet from the edge of the forest. He next proceeded adroitly to cut off the trunk, which might have been two feet in diameter at the base. Of this he selected the most delicate portion, and then took with it one of the animal's spongy feet. In fact, these are the finest morsels, like the hump of the bison, the paws of the bear, and the head of the wild boar. When the pile of faggots had been thoroughly consumed inside and outside, the hole, clear to the cinders and hot coals, retained a very high temperature. The pieces of elephant meat, surrounded with aromatic leaves, were placed in the extempore of the oven and covered with hot coals. Then Joe piled up a second heap of sticks overall, and when it had burned out, the meat was cooked to a turn. Then Joe took the vions from the oven, spread the savory mess upon green leaves, and arranged his dinner upon a magnificent patch of greenswort. He finally brought out some biscuits, some coffee, and some cognac, and got a can of pure fresh water from a neighboring streamlet. Their past thus prepared was a pleasant sight to behold, and Joe, without being too proud, thought that it would also be pleasant to eat. Her journey without danger or fatigue, he said, loquized, Your meals when you please, a swinging hammock all the time, what more could a man ask? And it was Kennedy, who didn't want to come. On his part, Dr. Ferguson was engrossed in a serious and thorough examination of the balloon. The latter did not appear to have suffered from the storm. The silk and the gutter percha had resisted wonderfully, and upon estimating the exact height of the ground, and the essential force of the balloon, our aeronauts saw with satisfaction that the hydrogen wasn't exactly the same quantity as before. The covering had remained completely waterproof. It was now only five days since our travelers had quitted Zanzibar. Their pyrrhicine had not yet been touched. Their stalk of biscuit and potted meat was enough for a long trip, and there was nothing to be replenished but the water. The pipes and spirals seemed to be in perfect condition, since, thanks to their India rubber adjoinings, they had euded to all the oscillations of the balloon. His examination ended, the doctor but took himself to setting his notes in order. He made a very accurate sketch of the surrounding landscape, with this long prayer restretching away out of sight, the forests of Kalmodours, and the balloon resting motionless over the body of the dead elephant. At the end of his two hours, Kennedy returned with a string of fat partridges and the haunch of an oryx, a sort of gem's buck, belonging to the most agile species of antelopes. Joe took upon himself to repair the surplus stock of provisions for a later repast. But dinner's ready, he shouted in his most musical voice, and the three travelers had only to sit down on the green turf. The trunk and feet of the elephant were declared to be exquisite. Old England was toasted as usual, and delicious Havana's perfume in this charming country for the first time. Kennedy ate, drank, and chatted like four. He was perfectly delighted with his new life, and seriously proposed to the doctor to settle in this forest, to construct a cabin of bowels and foliage, and there and then to lay foundation of a Robinson Crusoe dynasty in Africa. The proposition went no further, although Joe had, at once, selected the part of Man Friday for himself. The country seemed so quiet, so deserted, that the doctor resolved to pass the night on the ground. And Joe arranged a circle of watch-fires as an indispensable barrier against wild animals, the pineacores and jackals, attracted by the smell of the dead elephant were prowling about in the neighborhood. Kennedy had to fire his rifle several times at these unceremonious visitors, but the night passed without any untoward occurrence. CHAPTER XVIII. OF FIVE WEEKS IN A BALLOON. This is LibriVox Recording. Only LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Alexi Talander, Davis, California. Five weeks in a balloon, or journeys and discoveries in Africa, by three Englishmen, by Jules Verne, translated by William Lackland. CHAPTER XVIII. THE CARAGUA. Lake Ucarui, a night on an island, the equator, crossing the lake, the cascades, a view of the country, the sources of the Nile, the island of Benga, the signature of Andrea de Bono, the flag with the arms of England. At five o'clock in the morning, preparations for departure commenced. Joe, with the hatchet which he had unfortunately recovered, broke the elephant's tusks. The balloon, restored to liberty, sped away to the Northwest with our travelers at the rate of eighteen miles an hour. The doctor had carefully taken his position by the altitude of the stars during the preceding night. He knew that he was in latitude two degrees forty minutes below the equator, or at a distance of one hundred and sixty geographical miles. He swept along over many villages without heeding the cries that the appearance of the balloon excited. He took note of the conformation of places with quick sights. He passed the slopes of the Rubeme, which are nearly as abrupt as the summits of the Usogara, and farther on at Tinga, encounter the first projections of the Caragua chains, which in his opinion are direct spurs of the mountains of the moon. So, the ancient legend which made these mountains the cradle of the Nile, came near to the truth, since they really border upon Lake Ucarui, the conjectured reservoir of the waters of the Great River. From Carfu, the main district or the merchants of that country, he described at length on the horizon, the lake so much desired and so long sought for, of which Captain Speak caught a glimpse on the 3rd of August, 1858. Samuel Ferguson felt real emotion. He was almost in contact with one of the principal points of his expedition, and with his spyglass constantly raised, he kept every nook and corner at the mysterious region in sight. His gaze wandered over details that might have been thus described. Beneath him extended a country gently destitute of cultivation. Only here and there some ravine seemed under tillage. The surface dotted with peaks of medium height grew flat as it approached the lake. Barley fields took the place of rice plantations, and there, too, could be seen growing the species of plantain from which the wine of the country is drawn, and a muani, the wild plant which supplies a substitute for coffee. A collection of some fifty or more circular huts, covered with a flowering thatch, constituted the capital of the Caragua country. He could easily distinguish the astonished countenances of a rather fine-looking race of natives of yellowish brown complexion. Women of incredible corpulence were dawdling about through the cultivated grounds, and the doctor greatly surprised his companions by inferring them that this rotundity, which is highly esteemed in that region, was obtained by obligatory diet of curdled milk. At noon the Victoria was in one degree forty-five minutes south latitude, and at one o'clock the wind was driving her directly toward the lake. This sheet of water was christened Uianza Victoria, or Victoria Lake, by Captain Speak. At the place now mentioned it might measure about ninety miles in breadth, and at its southern extremity the captain found a group of islets, which he named the Archipelago of Bengal. He pushed his survey as far as Mwanza, on the eastern coast, where he was received by the sultan. He made a triangulation of this part of the lake, but he could not procure a boat, either to cross it or to visit the great island of Okurui, which is very populous, is governed by three sultans, and appeared to be only a promontory low tide. The balloon approached the lake more to the northward, to the doctor's great regret, for it had been his wish to determine its lower outlines. Its shores seemed to be thickly set with brambles and thorny plants, growing together in wild confusion, and were literally hidden, sometimes from the gaze, by myriads of mosquitoes of a light brown hue. The country was evenly habitable and inhabited. Troops of hippopotamia could be seen desporting themselves in the forests of reeds, or plunging beneath the whitish waters of the lake. The latter, seen from above, presented toward the west, so broad a horizon that it might have been called a sea. That distance between the two shores is so great that communication cannot be established, and storms are frequent and violent for the winds sweep with fury over this elevated and unsheltered basin. The doctor experienced some difficulty in guiding his course. He was afraid of being carried toward the west, but fortunately a current bore him directly toward the north, and at six o'clock in the evening the balloon alighted on a small desert island in thirty miles south latitude, and thirty degrees, fifty-two minutes east long latitude, about twenty miles from the shore. The travelers succeeded in making fast to a tree, and the wind having fallen calm toward evening, they remained quietly at anchor. They dared not dream of taking the ground, since here, as on the shores of the Ioyanza, legions of mosquitoes cover the soil in dense clouds. Joe even came back from securing the anchor in the tree, speckled with bites, but he kept his timber, because he found it quite the natural thing for mosquitoes to treat him as they had done. Nevertheless the doctor, who was less of an optimist, let out as much rope as he could, so as to escape these pitiless insects that began to rise toward him with a threatening hum. The doctor ascertained the height of the lake above the level of the sea, as it had been determined by Captain Speak, say three thousand, seven hundred and fifty feet. Here we are then, on an island, said Joe, scratching as though he would tear his nails out. We could make the tour of it in a jiffy, added Kennedy, and accepting these confounded mosquitoes, there's not a living being to be seen on it. The islands with which the lake is dotted, replied the doctor, on nothing after all but the tops of submerged hills, but we are lucky to have found a retreat among them, for the shores of the lake are inhabited by ferocious tribes. Take your sleep, then, since Providence has granted us a tranquil night. Won't you do the same, doctor? No, I could not close my eyes. My thoughts would banish sleep. Tomorrow, my friends, should the wind prove favorable, we shall go due north, and we shall perhaps discover the sources of the Nile, that grand secret which is so long remained impenetrable. Near as we are to the sources of the renowned river, I could not sleep. Kennedy and Joe, whom scientific speculations failed to disturb to that extent, were not long in falling into sound slumber, all the doctor held his post. On Wednesday, April 23rd, the balloon started at four o'clock in the morning, with a grayish sky over head. Night was slow in quitting the surface of the lake, which was enveloped in a dense fog, but presently a violent breeze scattered all the mist, and after the balloon had been swung to and fro for a moment in opposite directions, it had length veered in a straight line toward the north. Dr. Ferguson fairly clapped his hands for joy. We were on the right track, he exclaimed. Today or never we shall see the Nile. Look, my friends, we are crossing the equator, we are entering our own hemisphere. Ah, said Joe, do you think Dr. The Equator passes here? Just to hear, my boy. Well then, with all the respect to you, sir, it seems to me that this is the very time to moisten it. Good, said the doctor laughing. Let us have a glass of punch, we have a way of comprehending cosmography that is anything but dull. And thus was the passage of the Victoria over the equator duly celebrated. The balloon made rapid headway, and the west could be seen at low, but slightly diversified coast, and farther away in the background, the elevated plains of the Uganda and the Usoga. At length, the rapidity of the wind became excessive, approaching thirty miles per hour. The waters of Añanza violently agitated, performing like the billows of a sea, by the appearance of certain long swells that followed the sinking of the waves, the doctor was unable to conclude that the lake must have great depth of water. Only one or two rude boats were seen during this rapid passage. This lake is evidently from its elevated position, the natural reservoir of the rivers in the eastern part of Africa, and the sky gets back to it in rain, what it takes in vapor from the streams that flow out of it. I am certain that the nile must here take its rise. Well, we shall see, said Kennedy. About nine o'clock they drew nearer to the western coast. It seemed deserted and covered with woods. The wind freshened a little toward the east, and the other shore of the lake could be seen. It bent around in such a curve as to end in a wide angle toward two degrees forty minutes north of Attitude. Lofty mountains uplifted their arid peaks at this extremity of Añanza, but between them a deep and winding gorge gave exit to a turbulent and foaming river. While busy managing the balloon, Dr. Ferguson never ceased reconnoitering the country with eager eyes. Look, he explained, look, my friends, the statements of the Arabs were correct. They spoke of a river by which Lake Uqarui discharged its waters toward the north, and this river exists, and we are descending it. And it flows with a speed analogous to our own, and this drop of water now gliding away beneath her feet is, beyond all question, rushing on to mingle with the Mediterranean. It is the Nile. It is the Nile, re-echoed Kennedy, carried away by the enthusiasm of his friend. Hurrah for the Nile, shouted Joe, glad, and always ready to cheer for something. When enormous rocks here and there embarrassed the course of the mysterious river, the water foamed as it fell in rapids and cataracts, which confirmed the doctor and his preconceived ideas on the subject. From the enviring mountains numerous torrents came plunging and seeding down, and the eye could take them in by hundreds. They could be seen starting from the soil, delicate jets of water scattering in all directions, crossing and recrossing each other, mingling, contending in the swiftness of their progress, and all rushing toward the nascent stream which became a river after having dropped them in. Here is indeed the Nile, reiterated the doctor, with a tone of profound conviction. The origin of its name, like the origin of its waters, has fired the imagination of the learned. They have sought to trace it from the Greek, the Coptic, the Sanskrit. But all that matters little now, since we have made it surrender the secret of its source. But, said the Saatchman, how are you to make sure of the identity of this river with the one recognized by the travelers from the North? We shall have certain irrefutable, convincing, and infallible proof, replied Ferguson. Should the wind hold another hour in our favor? The mountains drew farther apart, revealing in their place numerous villages and fields of white Indian corn, dura, and sugarcane. The tribes inhabiting the region seemed excited and hostile. They manifested more anger than adoration, and evidently saw in the aeronauts only obtrusive strangers and not condescending deities. It appeared as though in approaching the sources of the Nile, these men came to rob them of something, and so the Victoria had to keep out a range of their muskets. To land here would be a ticklish matter, said the Scott. Well, said Joe, so much the worst for these natives, they will have to do without the pleasure of our conversation. Nevertheless, to send I must, said the Doctor. Were it only for a quarter of an hour, without doing so I cannot verify the results of our expedition. It is indispensable, then, Doctor. Indispensable, and we will descend, even if we have to do so with a volley of mux gutery. The thing suits me, said Kennedy, toying with his pet rifle. And I am ready, Master, whenever you say the word, at a Joe, preparing for the fight. It would not be the first time, remarked the Doctor. The science has been followed up, sword in hand. The same thing happened to a French savant among the mountains of Spain when he was measuring the terrestrial meridian. Be easy on that score, Doctor, and trust to your two bodyguards. Are we there, Master? Not yet. In fact, I shall go up a little first, in order to get an exact idea of the configuration of the country. The hydrogen expanded and in less than ten minutes the balloon was soaring at a height of 2,500 feet above the ground. From that elevation could be distinguished in an extricable network of smaller streams, which the river received into below its bosom. Others came from the west and between numerous hills and the midst of fertile plains. We are not 90 miles from Gondocoros of the Doctor, measuring off the distance on its map, and less than five miles from the point reached by the explorers from the North. Let us descend with great care. And upon this but the balloon was lowered about 2,000 feet. Now, my friends, let us be ready, come what may. Ready it is, said Dick and Joe with one voice. Good. In a few moments the balloon was advancing along the bed of the river and scarcely to 100 feet above the ground. The Nile measured but 50 fathoms and width at this point, and then it is wearing great excitement, rushing to and fro tumultuously in the villages that line the banks of the stream. At the second degree it forms a perpendicular cascade of 10 feet in height, a consequently impassable by boats. Here then is the cascade mentioned by Debono exclaimed the Doctor. The basin of the river spread out, dotted with numerous islands which Dr. Ferguson devoured with his eyes. He seemed to be seeking for a point of reference which he had not yet found. By this time some blacks have been ventured in a boat just under the balloon. Kennedy saluted them with a shot from his rifle that made them regain the bank at their utmost speed. A good journey to you, Bald Joe, and if it were were in your place I wouldn't try coming back again. I should be mightily afraid of a monster that can hurl thunderbolts when he pleases. But all at once the Doctor snatched up his by-glass and directed it toward an island reposing in the middle of the river. Four trees exclaimed. Look down there! Sure enough there were four trees standing alone at one end of it. It is Bengal Island. It is the very same repeated to the Doctor exultingly. And what of that? asked Dick. It is there that we show a light if God permits. But it seems to be inhabited, Doctor. Joe is right, and unless I'm mistaken there is a group of about a score of natives on it now. We'll make them scatter. There'll be no great trouble in that, responded Ferguson. So be it, chimed in the Hunter. The sun was at the zenith as the balloon approached the island. The blacks who were members of the Makado tribe were howling lustily and one of them waved his bark hat in the air, Kennedy took aim at him, fired, and his hat flew about him in pieces. Thereupon there was a general scamper. The natives plunged headlong into the river and swam to the opposite bank. Immediately there came a shower of balls from both banks, along with a perfect cloud of arrows. But without doing the balloon any damage, where it rested with its anchor snugly secured in the fisher of a rock. Joe lost no time in sliding to the ground. The latter cried the Doctor. Follow me, Kennedy. What do you wish, sir? Let us alight. I want a witness. Here I am. Mind your post, Joe. And keep a good lookout. Never fear, Doctor. I'll answer for all that. Come, Dick, said the Doctor, as he touched the ground. So saying, he drew his companion along toward a group of rocks that rose upon one point of the island. There, after searching for some time, he began to rummage among the brambles. And in so doing, scratched his hands until they bled. Suddenly he grasped Kennedy's arm, exclaiming, Look! Look! Letters! Yes, there indeed could be described with perfect precision of outline, some letters carved on the rock. It was quite easy to make them out. A.D. A.D. repeated Dr. Ferguson. Andrea Badibono, the very signature of the traveller who the farthest ascended the current of the Nile. No doubt of that, friend Samuel, ascended to Kennedy. Are you now convinced? It is the Nile. We cannot entertain a doubt on that score now, was the reply. The Doctor, for the last time, examined those precious initials, the exact form and size of which he carefully noted. And now, said he, now for the balloon. Quickly then, for I see some of the natives getting ready to recross the river. That matters little to us now. Let the wind but send us northward for a few hours, and we shall reach Gondokoro and press the hands of some of our countrymen. Ten minutes more and the balloon was majestically ascending, while Dr. Ferguson, in token of success, waved the English flag triumphantly from his car. End of Chapter 18 of Five Weeks in the Balloon Recording by Alex C. Tlander Davis, California www.alexcitalander.com Chapter 19 of Five Weeks in the 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. Tlander Davis, California Five Weeks in the Balloon or Journeys and Discoveries in Africa by Three Englishmen by Jules Verne translated by William Lacklin Chapter 19 The Nile The Trembling Mountain A Remembrance of the Country The Narratives of the Arabs The Nyanyems Joes Shrewd Cogitations The Balloon Runs the Gauntlet Aerostatic Ascensions Madame Blanchard Which way do we head, asked Kennedy, as he saw his friend consult in the compass? North, North-East The Deuce, but that's not the North. No, Dick, and I'm afraid that we shall have some trouble in getting to Gondocoro. I am sorry for it, but alas we have succeeded in connecting the explorations from the East with those from the North, and we must not complain. The balloon was now receding gradually from the Nile. One last look at the Doctor, at this impassable latitude, beyond which the most intrepid travelers could not make their way. There are those intractable tribes of whom Petheric, Arnold, Muoney, and the young traveler Lejean, to whom we are indebted to the vests work on the upper Nile, have spoken. Thus then, added Kennedy, inquirily, our discoveries agree with the speculations of science. Absolutely so. The sources of the wide Nile, of the Ba El Abiad, are immersed in a lake as large as a sea. It is there that it takes its rise. Posey, undoubtedly, loses something thereby. People were fond of ascribing a celestial origin to this king of rivers. The ancients gave it the name of an ocean, and were not far from believing that it flowed directly from the Sun. But we must come down from these flights from time to time, and accept what science teaches us. They will not always be scientific men, perhaps, but there always will be poets. We can still see the cataracts, said Joe. Those are the cataracts of Machado, in a third degree of latitude. Nothing could be more accurate. Oh, if we could only have followed the course of the Nile for a few hours. And down yonder below us I see the top of a mountain, said the hunter. This is Mount Longwick, the trembling mountain of the Arabs. This whole country was visited by Debono, who went through it under the name of Latif Effendi. The tribes living near the Nile are hostile to each other, and are continually waging a war of extermination. You may form some idea, then, of the difficulties he had to encounter. The wind was carrying the balloon toward the northwest, and in order to avoid Mount Longwick it was necessary to seek a more slanting current. My friends, said the doctor, here is where our passage of the African continent really commences. Up to this time we have been following the traces of our predecessors. Henceforth we ought to launch ourselves upon the unknown. We shall not let the courage, shall we? Never, said Dick and Joe together, almost in a shout. Onward then, and may we have the help of heaven. At ten o'clock at night, after passing over ravines, forests, and scattered villages, the aeronauts reached the side of the trembling mountain, along whose gentle slopes they were quietly gliding. In that memorable day, the 23rd of April they had, in fifteen hours, impelled by a rapid breeze, traversed a distance of more than three hundred and fifteen miles. But this is not a part of the journey, had left them in dull spirits, and complete silence reigned in the car. Was Dr. Ferguson absorbed in the thoughts of his discoveries? Were his two companions thinking of their trip to those unknown regions? There were, no doubt, mingled with these reflections, the keenest reminiscences of home and distant friends. Joe alone continued to manifest the same careless philosophy, finding it quite natural that home should not be here, for the moment that he left it, but he respected the silent mood of his friends, the doctor and Kennedy. About ten, the balloon anchored on the side of the trembling mountain, so-called because, in our tradition, it is said to tremble the instant that a Muslim man sets foot upon it. The travelers then partook, of a substantial meal, and all quietly passed the night as usual, keeping the regular watches. On waking the next morning, they all had pleasanter feelings. The weather was fine, and the wind was blowing for the right quarter, so that a good breakfast, seasoned with Joe's merry pranks, put them in high good humor. The region they were now crossing is very extensive. It borders on the mountains of the Moon on one side, and those of Darfur on the other, a space about as broad as Europe. We are, no doubt, crossing what is supposed to be the Kingdom of Usoga. Geographers have pretended that they existed in the center of Africa, a vast depression, an immense central lake. We shall see whether there is any truth in that idea, said the doctor. But how did they come to think so, asked Kennedy. From the recitals of the Arabs, those fellows are great narrators, too much so, probably. Some travelers who had got as far as Kazeir or the Great Lakes saw slaves that had been brought from this region, interrogated them concerning it, and from their different narratives made of a jumble of notions and deduced systems from them. Down at the bottom of it all, there is some appearance of truth, and you see that they were right about the sources of the Nile. Nothing could be more correct, said Kennedy. It was by the aid of these documents that some attempts at maps were made, and so I am going to try to follow a route by one of them, rectifying it when need be. Is all this region inhabited, asked Joe? Undoubtedly, and disagreeably inhabited, too. I thought so. These scattered tribes come, one and all, under the title of Nyanyems, and this compound word is only a sort of nickname. It imitates the sound of chewing. That's it. Excellent, said Joe, chomping his teeth as though he were eating. Yum, yum. My good Joe, if you were the immediate object of this chewing, you wouldn't find it so excellent. Why? What's the reason, sir? These tribes are considered man-eaters. Is that really the case? Not a doubt of it. It has also been asserted that these natives had tails, like Mirquador Pritz, that it was soon discovered that these appendages belonged to the skins of animals that they wore for clothing. More is the pity. A tail is a nice thing to chase away mosquitoes. That may be, Joe, but we must consign the story to the domain of Fable, like the dog's heads which the traveller, Brun Role, attributed to other tribes. Dog's heads, eh? Quite convenient for barking, and even for man-eating. But one thing that has been, unfortunately, proven true is the ferocity of these tribes, who are very, really fond of human flesh, and devoured with avidity. I only hope that they won't take such a particular fancy to mind, said Joe, with comic solemnity. See that, said Kennedy. Yes, indeed, sir. If I have to be in a moment of famine, I want it to be for your benefit and my master's. But the idea of feeding those black fellows, gracious, I'd die of shame. Well, then, Joe, said Kennedy, that's understood. We count upon you in case of need. At your service, gentlemen. Joe talks in this way, says to make us take good care of him, and fatten him up. Maybe so, said Joe, every man for himself. In the afternoon the sky became covered with a warm mist that oozed from the soil. The brownish vapour scarcely allowed the beholder to distinguish objects, and so fear and collision with some unexpected mountain peak, the doctor, about five o'clock, gave the signal to halt. The night passed without accident, but in such profound obscurity that it was necessary to use redoubled vigilance. The monsoon blew with extreme violence during all the next morning. The wind buried itself in the lower cavities of the balloon, and shook the appendage by which the dilating pipes entered the main apparatus. They had at last to be tied up with cords, Joe acquitting himself very skillfully in performing that operation. He had occasion to observe at the same time that the orifice of the balloon still remained hermetically sealed. That is a matter of double importance for us, said the doctor. In the first place we must avoid the escape of precious gas, and then again we did not bleed behind us an inflammable train, which we should alas inevitably set fire to, and so be consumed. That would be a disagreeable traveling incident, said Joe. Should we be hurled to the ground, asked Kennedy? Hurled? No, not quite. The gas would burn quietly, and we should just in, little by little. A similar accident happened to a French aeronaut, Madame Blanchard. She ignited her balloon while sending off fireworks, but she did not fall, and she would not have been killed probably, had not her car dashed against the chimney, and precipitated her to the ground. Let us hope the nothing of the kind may have unto us, said the hunter. Up to this time our trip is not seen to be very dangerous, and I can see nothing to prevent us reaching our destination. Nor can I, my dear Dick. Accidents are generally caused by the imprudence of the aeronauts, or the defective construction of their apparatus. However, in thousands of aerial ascensions, there have not been twenty fatal accidents. Usually the danger is in the moment of leaving the ground or of alighting, and therefore those junctures we should never omit the utmost precaution. It's breakfast time, said Joe. We'll have to put up with preserved meat and coffee until Mr. Kennedy has had another chance to get us a good slice of venison. End of Chapter 19 of Five Weeks in a Balloon Recording by Alex C. Tillander, Davis, California. Chapter 18 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. Tillander, Davis, California. Five Weeks in a Balloon, or Journeys and Discoveries in Africa, by Three Englishmen, by Jules Verne, translated by William Lackland. Chapter 20 The Celestial Bottle The Fig Palms The Mammoth Trees The Tree of War The Winged Team Two Native Tribes in Battle A Massacre An Invention from Above The wind had become violent and irregular. The balloon was running the gauntlet through the air, tossed at one moment toward the north and another toward the south. It could not find one steady current. We are mooring very swiftly without advancing much, said Kennedy, remarking the frequent oscillations of the needle of the compass. The balloon is rushing at the rate of at least thirty miles an hour. Lean over and see how the country is gliding away beneath us, said the doctor. See that forest looks as though it were precipitating itself upon us. The forest has become a clearing out of the other. And the clearing of village continued Joe, a moment or two later. Look at the faces of those astonished darkies. Oh, it's natural enough that they should be astonished, said the doctor. The French presence, when they first saw a balloon fired at it, thinking that it was an aerial monster. A Sudan Negro may be excused then for opening his eyes very wide. Faith, said Joe, as the victorious skimmed closely along the ground. It scarcely the elevation of one hundred feet, and immediately over a village. I'll throw them an empty bottle with your leave, doctor, and if it reaches them safe and sound, they'll worship it. If it breaks, they'll make it Tasman's of the pieces. So saying he flung out a bottle which, of course, was broken into a thousand fragments, while the Negroes scampered into their round huts, uttering shrill cries. A little farther on, Kennedy called out, Look at that strange tree. The upper part is of one kind, and the lower part of another. Well, said Joe, here's a country where the trees grow on top of each other. It's simply the trunk of a fig tree, replied the doctor, on which there is a little vegetating earth. Some fine day the wind let the seed of a palm on it, and the seed has taken root, and grown as though it were on the plain ground. A fine new style of gardening, said Joe, and I'll import the idea to England. It'll be just the thing in the London parks, without counting that it would be another way to increase the number of fruit trees. We could have gardens up in the air, and the small house owners would like that. At this moment, they had to raise the balloon so as to pass over a forest or trees that were more than three hundred feet in height. A kind of ancient banyan. What magnificent trees, exclaimed Kennedy. I never saw anything so fine as the appearance of these venerable forests. Look, doctor. The height of these banyans is really remarkable, my dear Dick, and yet there would be nothing astonishing in the new world. Why, are there still Lafayette trees in existence? Undoubtedly, among the mammoth trees of California, there is a cedar four hundred and eighty feet in height. It would overtop the houses of parliament, and even the great pyramid of Egypt. The trunk of the surface of the ground was one hundred and twenty feet in circumference, and the concentric layers of the wood disclosed an age of more than four thousand years. But then, sir, there was nothing wonderful in it. When one has lived four thousand years, one ought to be pretty tall, was Joe's remark. Meanwhile, during the doctor's recital and Joe's response, the forest had given place to a large collection of huts surrounding an open space. In the middle of this grew a solitary tree, and Joe exclaimed as he caught sight of it. Well, if that tree has produced such flowers as those for the last four thousand years, I have to offer it my compliments anyhow, and he pointed to a gigantic sycamore, whose whole trunk was covered with human bones. The flowers of which Joe spoke were heads freshly severed from the bodies, and suspended by daggers thrust into the bark of the tree. The war tree of these cannibals, said the doctor. The Indians merely carry off the scalp, but these negroes take the whole head. A mere matter of fashion, said Joe, but already the village and the bleeding heads were disappearing on the horizon. Another place offered a still more revolting spectacle. Half devoured corpses, skeletons mouldering to dust, human limbs scattered here and there, and left to feed the jackals and hyenas. No doubt these are the bodies of criminals, according to the custom in Abyssinia. These people have left them a prey to the wild beast, who kill them with their terrible teeth and claws, and then devour them at their leisure. Not a whit more cruel than hanging, said the scot. Filthier, that's all. In the southern regions of Africa, they content themselves, presumed the doctor, with shutting up the criminal in his own hut with his cattle, and sometimes with his family. They then set fire to the hut, and the whole party are burned together. I call that cruel, but like friend Kennedy, I think that the gallows is quite as cruel, quite as barbarous. Joe, by the aid of his keen sight, which he did not fail to use continually, noticed some flocks of birds of prey flitting about the horizon. Their eagles, exclaimed Kennedy, after reconnoitering them through the glass, magnificent birds whose flight is as rapid as ours. Heaven preserve us from their attacks at the doctor. They are more to be feared by us than wild beasts or savage tribes. Bass, said the hunter, we can drive them off with a few rifle shots. Nevertheless, I would prefer, dear Dick, not having to rely upon your skill this time, for the silk of our balloon could not resist their sharp beaks. Fortunately, the huge birds will, I believe, be more frightened than attracted by our machine. Yes, but a new idea, and I have dozens of them, said Joe. If we could only manage to capture a team of lying eagles, we could hitch them to the balloon, and they'd haul us through the air. The thing has been seriously proposed, replied the doctor. But I think it hardly practicable with creatures naturally so restive. Oh, we'd tame them, said Joe. Instead of driving them with bits, we'd do it with eyed blinkers that would cover their eyes. Half blinded in that way, they'd go to the right or to the left as we desired. When blinded completely, they would stop. Allow me, Joe, to prefer a favorable wind to your team of eagles. It costs less for fodder, and is more reliable. Well, you may have your choice, Master, but I stick to my idea. It now was noon. The Victoria had been going at a moderate speed for some time. The country merely passed below it. It no longer flew. Suddenly shouts and whistlings were heard by aeronauts, and leaning over the edge of the car, they saw on the open plain below them an exciting spectacle. Two hostile tribes were fighting furiously, and the air was dotted with volleys of arrows. The combatants were so intent upon their murderous work, that they did not notice the arrival of the balloon. There were about three hundred mingled confusedly in the deadly struggle. Most of them, red with the blood of the wounded, in which they fairly wallowed, were horrible to behold. As they at last caught sight of the balloon, there was a momentary pause, but their yells were doubled, and some arrows were shot at the Victoria, one of them coming close enough for Joe to catch it with his hand. Let us rise out of range, exclaimed the doctor. There must be no rashness. We are forbidden any risk. Meanwhile, the massacre continued on both sides, with battle-axes and war clubs. As quickly as one of the combatants fell, a hostile warrior ran up to cut off his head, while the women, mingling in the fray, gathered up these bloody trophies, and piled them together at either extremity of the battlefield. Often, too, they even fought for these hideous spoils. What a frightful scene, said Kennedy, with profound disgust. There are ugly acquaintances, added Joe, but then, if they had uniforms, they'd be just like the fighters of all the rest of the world. I have a keen hankering to take a hand in at that fight, said the hunter, banishing his waifu. No, no, objected the doctor vehemently. No, let us not meddle with what don't concern us. Do you know which is right or which is wrong, that you would assume that part of the Almighty? Let us rather hurry away from this revolting spectacle. Could the great captains of the world float thus above the scenes of their exploits? They would at last, perhaps, conceive disgust for blood and conquest. The chieftain of one of the contending parties was remarkable for his athletic proportions, his great height and herculean strength. With one hand he plunged his spear into the compact ranks of his enemies, and with the other, mowed large spaces in them with his battle-axe. Suddenly he flung away his war-club, red with blood, rushed upon a wooden warrior, and, chopping off his arm at a single stroke, carried the deceptive member to his mouth, and bit it again and again. Ah, ejaculated Kennedy, the horrible brute, I can hold back no longer. And as he spoke, the huge savage, struck full in the forehead with a rifle-ball, fell headlong to the ground. Upon this sudden mishap of their leader, his warriors seemed struck dumb with amazement. His supernatural death awed them, while it reanimated the courage and ardor of their adversaries, and in a twinkling the field was abandoned by half the combatants. Come, let us look higher up for a current to bear us away. I am sick of this spectacle, said the doctor. But they could not get away so rapidly as to avoid the sight of the victorious tribe rushing upon the dead and the wounded, scrambling and disputing for the still-warm and meeking flesh and equally devouring it. Fa, utter Joe, it's sickening. The balloon rose and as it expanded, the howlings of the brutal horde in the delirium of their orgy pursued them for a few minutes. But a length borne away toward the south, they were carried out of sight in hearing of this horrible spectacle of cannibalism. The surface of the country was now greatly varied, with numerous streams of water bearing toward the east. The latter and dally ran into those affluence of Lake New, or of the river of the Gazelles, concerning which M. Gilom Lejeune had given such curious details. At nightfall, the balloon cast anchor in twenty-seven degrees east longitude and four degrees twenty minutes north latitude, after a day's trip of one hundred and fifty miles. End of Chapter 20 of Five Weeks in a Group Balloon, Recording by Alex C. Tillander, Davis, California, www.alexcitillander.com