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Wonderful Balloon Ascents; Or, The Conquest of the Skies
·
Fulgence Marion
92
that
the
place
they
had
selected
for
their
descent
was
in
the
Duchy
of
Nassau.
The
town
of
Wiberg,
where
Blanchard
had
descended,
after
his
ascent
at
Frankfort
in
1785
was,
by
a
singular
chance,
only
two
leagues
distant.
The
three
aeronauts
received
a
most
flattering
reception,
and,
in
memory
of
the
event,
they
placed
the
flag
which
they
had
borne
in
their
car
during
their
adventurous
excursion
in
the
ducal
palace,
side
by
side
with
that
of
Blanchard.
“Thus,”
says
Mason,
“terminated
an
expedition
which,
whether
we
regard
the
extent
of
the
journey,
the
length
of
time
occupied
in
it,
or
the
results
which
were
the
objects
of
the
experiment,
may
justly
be
considered
as
one
of
the
most
interesting
and
most
important
ever
undertaken.
The
best
answer
which
one
could
give
to
those
who
would
be
disposed
to
criticise
the
employment
of
the
peculiar
means
which
we
made
use
of,
or
to
doubt
their
efficiency,
would
be
to
state
that,
after
having
traversed
without
hindrance,
without
either
danger
or
difficulty,
so
large
a
portion
of
the
European
continent,
we
arrived
at
our
destination
still
in
possession
of
as
much
force
as,
had
we
wished
it,
might
have
carried
us
round
the
whole
world.”
Chapter
IX.
The
“Geant”
Balloon.
Not
a
few
of
our
readers
will
remember
the
ascent
of
Nadar’s
colossal
balloon
from
Paris,
on
Sunday,
the
18th
of
October,
1863.
This
balloon
was
remarkable
as
having
attached
to
it
a
regular
two-story
house
for
a
car.
Its
ascent
was
witnessed
by
nearly
half
a
million
of
persons.
The
balloon,
after
passing
over
the
eastern
part
of
France,
Belgium,
and
Holland,
suffered
a
disastrous
descent
in
Hanover
the
day
after
it
started
on
its
perilous
journey.
It
was
a
fool-hardy
enterprise
to
construct
such
a
gigantic
and
unmanageable
balloon,
presenting
such
an
immense
surface
to
the
atmosphere,
and
being
so
susceptible
to
adverse
aerial
currents
as
to
become
the
helpless
prey
of
the
elements;
and
it
was
still
more
fool-hardy
to
place
the
lives
of
its
passengers
at
the
mercy
of
such
terrible
and
ungovernable
forces.
A
large
section
of
the
public
laboured
under
the
delusion
that
Nadar’s
balloon
was
one
capable
of
being
steered.
In
reality,
however,
the
‘Geant’
was
unquestionably
the
most
rebellious
and
unruly
specimen
of
its
class
that
has
been
made
since
the
days
of
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