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128
Wonderful Balloon Ascents; Or, The Conquest of the Skies
·
Fulgence Marion
89
four
o’clock
the
voyagers
sighted
the
sea.
“It
was
forty-eight
minutes
past
four,”
says
Monk-Mason,
“that
we
first
saw
the
line
of
waves
breaking
on
the
shores
beneath
us.
It
would
have
been
impossible
to
have
remained
unmoved
by
the
grandeur
of
the
spectacle
that
spread
out
before
us.
Behind
us
were
the
coasts
of
England,
with
their
white
cliffs
half
lost
in
the
coming
darkness.
Beneath
us
on
both
sides
the
ocean
spread
out
far
end
wide
to
where
the
darkness
closed
in
the
scene.
Opposite
us
a
barrier
of
thick
clouds
like
a
wall,
surmounted
all
along
its
line
with
projections
like
so
many
towers,
bastions,
and
battlements,
rose
up
from
the
sea
as
if
to
stop
our
advance.
A
few
minutes
afterwards
we
were
in
the
midst
of
this
cloudy
barrier,
surrounded
with
darkness,
which
the
vapours
of
the
night
increased.
We
heard
no
sound.
The
noise
of
the
waves
breaking
on
the
shores
of
England
had
ceased,
and
our
position
had
for
some
time
cut
us
off
from
all
the
sounds
of
earth.”
In
an
hour
the
Straits
of
Dover
were
cleared,
the
lights
of
Calais
shone
out
toward
the
voyagers,
and
the
sound
of
the
town
drums
rose
up
toward
them.
“Darkness
was
now
complete,”
continues
the
writer,
“and
it
was
only
by
the
lights,
sometimes
isolated,
sometimes
seen
in
masses,
and
showing
themselves
far
down
on
the
earth
beneath
us,
that
we
could
form
a
guess
of
the
countries
we
traversed,
or
of
the
towns
and
villages
which
appeared
before
us
every
moment.
The
whole
surface
of
the
earth
for
many
leagues
round
showed
nothing
but
scattered
lights,
and
the
face
of
the
earth
seemed
to
rival
the
vault
of
heaven
with
starry
fires.
Every
moment
in
the
earlier
part
of
the
night
before
men
had
betaken
themselves
to
repose,
clusters
of
lights
appeared
indicating
large
centres
of
population.
“Those
on
the
horizon
gave
us
the
notion
of
a
distant
conflagration.
In
proportion
as
we
approached
them,
these
masses
of
lights
appeared
to
increase,
and
to
cover
a
greater
space,
until,
when
right
over
them,
they
seemed
to
divide
themselves
into
different
parts,
to
stretch
out
in
long
streets,
and
to
shine
in
starry
quadrangles
round
the
squares,
so
that
we
could
see
the
exact
plan
of
each
city,
given
as
on
a
small
map.
It
would
be
difficult
to
give
an
idea
of
what
sort
of
effect
such
a
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