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128
Wonderful Balloon Ascents; Or, The Conquest of the Skies
·
Fulgence Marion
96
conceivable
angle
of
which
we
were
the
common
apex.
We
still
ascended.
The
summits
of
the
double
row
of
trees
which
surround
the
Champ
de
Mars
were
already
under
us.
We
reached
the
level
of
the
cupola
of
the
Military
School.
The
tremendous
uproar
still
reached
us.
We
glided
over
Paris
in
an
easterly
direction,
at
the
height
of
about
six
hundred
feet.
Every
one
took
up
the
best
possible
position
on
the
six
light
cane
stools,
and
on
the
two
long
bunks
at
either
end
of
the
car,
and
contemplated
the
marvellous
panorama
spread
out
under
us,
of
which
we
never
grew
weary.
“There
is
never
any
dizziness
in
a
balloon,
as
is
often
erroneously
supposed,
for
in
it
you
are
the
only
point
in
space
without
any
possibility
of
comparison
with
another,
and
therefore
the
means
of
becoming
giddy
are
not
at
hand.”
A
very
experienced
aeronaut,
who
numbers
his
ascents
by
hundreds,
has
assured
me
that
he
never
knew
of
a
single
case
of
dizziness.
“The
earth
seems
to
unfold
itself
to
our
view
like
an
immense
and
variegated
map,
the
predominant
colour
of
which
is
green
in
all
its
shades
and
tints.
The
irregular
division
of
the
country
into
fields
made
it
resemble
a
patchwork
counterpane.
The
size
of
the
houses,
churches,
fortresses,
was
so
considerably
diminished
as
to
make
them
resemble
nothing
so
much
as
those
playthings
manufactured
at
Carlsruhe.
This
was
the
effect
produced
by
a
microscopic
train,
which
whistled
very
faintly
to
attract
our
attention,
and
which
seemed
to
creep
along
at
a
snail’s
pace,
though
doubtless
going
at
the
rate
of
thirty
miles
an
hour,
and
was
enveloped
in
a
minute
cloud
of
smoke.
What
a
lasting
impression
this
microscopic
neatness
makes
on
us!
What
is
that
white
puff
I
see
down
there?
the
smoke
of
a
cigar?
No:
it
is
a
cloud
of
mist.
It
must
be
a
perfect
plain
that
we
are
looking
at,
for
we
cannot
distinguish
between
the
different
altitudes
of
a
bramble-bush
and
an
oak
a
hundred
years
old!
“It
is
one
of
the
delights
of
an
aeronaut
to
gaze
on
the
familiar
scenes
of
earth
from
the
immense
height
of
the
car
of
a
balloon!
What
earthly
pleasure
can
compare
with
this!
Free,
calm,
silent,
roving
through
this
immense
and
hospitable
space,
where
no
human
form
can
harm
me,
I
despise
every
evil
power;
I
can
feel
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