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172
Wonderful Balloon Ascents; Or, The Conquest of the Skies
·
Fulgence Marion
51
The
gardens
of
La
Muette,
near
Paris,
were
fixed
upon
as
the
spot
from
which
this
aerial
expedition
should
start.
The
Dauphin
and
his
suite
were
present
on
the
occasion.
It
was
on
the
21st
of
October,
1783,
at
one
o’clock
p.m.,
that
Roziers
and
Irelands
took
their
leave
of
the
earth
for
the
first
time.
The
following
is
Arlandes’
narrative
of
the
expedition,
given
in
the
form
of
a
letter,
addressed
by
the
marquis
to
Faujas
de
Saint
Fond:--“You
wish,
my
dear
Faujas,
and
I
consent
most
willingly
to
your
desires,
that,
owing
to
the
number
of
questions
continually
addressed
to
me,
and
for
other
reasons,
I
should
gratify
public
curiosity
and
fix
public
opinion
upon
the
subject
of
our
aerial
voyage.
“I
wish
to
describe
as
well
as
I
can
the
first
journey
which
men
have
attempted
through
an
element
which,
prior
to
the
discovery
of
MM.
Montgolfier,
seemed
so
little
fitted
to
support
them.
“We
went
up
on
the
21st
of
October,
1783,
at
near
two
o’clock,
M.
Roziers
on
the
west
side
of
the
balloon,
I
on
the
east.
The
wind
was
nearly
north-west.
The
machine,
say
the
public,
rose
with
majesty;
but
really
the
position
of
the
balloon
altered
so
that
M.
Roziers
was
in
the
advance
of
our
position,
I
in
the
rear.
“I
was
surprised
at
the
silence
and
the
absence
of
movement
which
our
departure
caused
among
the
spectators,
and
believed
them
to
be
astonished
and
perhaps
awed
at
the
strange
spectacle;
they
might
well
have
reassured
themselves
I
was
still
gazing,
when
M.
Roziers
cried
to
me--
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