thousand miles. Well, at the rate of two hundred and forty miles every
twelve hours, which does not come near the rapidity of our railroad
trains, by travelling day and night, it would take only seven days to
cross Africa!”
“But then you could see nothing, make no geographical observations, or
reconnoitre the face of the country.”
“Ah!” replied the doctor, “if I am master of my balloon--if I can ascend
and descend at will, I shall stop when I please, especially when too
violent currents of air threaten to carry me out of my way with them.”
“And you will encounter such,” said Captain Bennet. “There are tornadoes
that sweep at the rate of more than two hundred and forty miles per
hour.”
“You see, then, that with such speed as that, we could cross Africa in
twelve hours. One would rise at Zanzibar, and go to bed at St. Louis!”
“But,” rejoined the officer, “could any balloon withstand the wear and
tear of such velocity?”
“It has happened before,” replied Ferguson.
“And the balloon withstood it?”
“Perfectly well. It was at the time of the coronation of Napoleon, in
1804. The aeronaut, Gernerin, sent up a balloon at Paris, about eleven
o’clock in the evening. It bore the following inscription, in letters of
gold: ‘Paris, 25 Frimaire; year XIII; Coronation of the Emperor Napoleon
by his Holiness, Pius VII.’ On the next morning, the inhabitants of Rome
saw the same balloon soaring above the Vatican, whence it crossed the
Campagna, and finally fluttered down into the lake of Bracciano. So you
see, gentlemen, that a balloon can resist such velocities.”
“A balloon--that might be; but a man?” insinuated Kennedy.
“Yes, a man, too!--for the balloon is always motionless with reference
to the air that surrounds it. What moves is the mass of the atmosphere
itself: for instance, one may light a taper in the car, and the flame
will not even waver. An aeronaut in Garnerin’s balloon would not have
suffered in the least from the speed. But then I have no occasion
to attempt such velocity; and if I can anchor to some tree, or some
favorable inequality of the ground, at night, I shall not fail to do so.
Besides, we take provision for two months with us, after all; and there
is nothing to prevent our skilful huntsman here from furnishing game in
abundance when we come to alight.”
“Ah! Mr. Kennedy,” said a young midshipman, with envious eyes, “what
splendid shots you’ll have!”
“Without counting,” said another, “that you’ll have the glory as well as
the sport!”
“Gentlemen,” replied the hunter, stammering with confusion, “I
greatly--appreciate--your compliments--but they--don’t--belong to me.”
“You!” exclaimed every body, “don’t you intend to go?”
“I am not going!”
“You won’t accompany Dr. Ferguson?”
“Not only shall I not accompany him, but I am here so as to be present
at the last moment to prevent his going.”
Every eye was now turned to the doctor.
“Never mind him!” said the latter, calmly. “This is a matter that
we can’t argue with him. At heart he knows perfectly well that he IS
going.”
“By Saint Andrew!” said Kennedy, “I swear--”
“Swear to nothing, friend Dick; you have been ganged and weighed--you
and your powder, your guns, and your bullets; so don’t let us say
anything more about it.”
And, in fact, from that day until the arrival at Zanzibar, Dick never
opened his mouth. He talked neither about that nor about anything else.
He kept absolutely silent.
CHAPTER NINTH.
They double the Cape.--The Forecastle.--A Course of Cosmography by
Professor Joe.--Concerning the Method of guiding Balloons.--How to seek
out Atmospheric Currents.--Eureka.
The Resolute plunged along rapidly toward the Cape of Good Hope, the
weather continuing fine, although the sea ran heavier.
On the 30th of March, twenty-seven days after the departure from London,
the Table Mountain loomed up on the horizon. Cape City lying at the foot
of an amphitheatre of hills, could be distinguished through the ship’s
glasses, and soon the Resolute cast anchor in the port. But the captain
touched there only to replenish his coal bunkers, and that was but a
day’s job. On the morrow, he steered away to the south’ard, so as
to double the southernmost point of Africa, and enter the Mozambique
Channel.
This was not Joe’s first sea-voyage, and so, for his part, he soon found
himself at home on board; every body liked him for his frankness and
good-humor. A considerable share of his master’s renown was reflected
upon him. He was listened to as an oracle, and he made no more mistakes
than the next one.
So, while the doctor was pursuing his descriptive course of lecturing in
the officers’ mess, Joe reigned supreme on the forecastle, holding forth
in his own peculiar manner, and making history to suit himself--a style
of procedure pursued, by the way, by the greatest historians of all ages
and nations.
The topic of discourse was, naturally, the aerial voyage. Joe had
experienced some trouble in getting the rebellious spirits to believe in
it; but, once accepted by them, nothing connected with it was any longer
an impossibility to the imaginations of the seamen stimulated by Joe’s
harangues.
Our dazzling narrator persuaded his hearers that, after this trip, many
others still more wonderful would be undertaken. In fact, it was to be
but the first of a long series of superhuman expeditions.
“You see, my friends, when a man has had a taste of that kind of
travelling, he can’t get along afterward with any other; so, on our
next expedition, instead of going off to one side, we’ll go right ahead,
going up, too, all the time.”
“Humph! then you’ll go to the moon!” said one of the crowd, with a stare
of amazement.
“To the moon!” exclaimed Joe, “To the moon! pooh! that’s too common.
Every body might go to the moon, that way. Besides, there’s no water
there, and you have to carry such a lot of it along with you. Then you
have to take air along in bottles, so as to breathe.”
“Ay! ay! that’s all right! But can a man get a drop of the real stuff
there?” said a sailor who liked his toddy.
“Not a drop!” was Joe’s answer. “No! old fellow, not in the moon. But
we’re going to skip round among those little twinklers up there--the
stars--and the splendid planets that my old man so often talks about.
For instance, we’ll commence with Saturn--”
“That one with the ring?” asked the boatswain.
“Yes! the wedding-ring--only no one knows what’s become of his wife!”
“What? will you go so high up as that?” said one of the ship-boys,
gaping with wonder. “Why, your master must be Old Nick himself.”
“Oh! no, he’s too good for that.”
“But, after Saturn--what then?” was the next inquiry of his impatient
audience.
“After Saturn? Well, we’ll visit Jupiter. A funny place that is, too,
where the days are only nine hours and a half long--a good thing for the
lazy fellows--and the years, would you believe it--last twelve of ours,
which is fine for folks who have only six months to live. They get off a
little longer by that.”
“Twelve years!” ejaculated the boy.
“Yes, my youngster; so that in that country you’d be toddling after your
mammy yet, and that old chap yonder, who looks about fifty, would only
be a little shaver of four and a half.”
“Blazes! that’s a good ‘un!” shouted the whole forecastle together.
“Solemn truth!” said Joe, stoutly.
“But what can you expect? When people will stay in this world, they
learn nothing and keep as ignorant as bears. But just come along to
Jupiter and you’ll see. But they have to look out up there, for he’s got
satellites that are not just the easiest things to pass.”
All the men laughed, but they more than half believed him. Then he went
on to talk about Neptune, where seafaring men get a jovial reception,
and Mars, where the military get the best of the sidewalk to such an
extent that folks can hardly stand it. Finally, he drew them a heavenly
picture of the delights of Venus.
“And when we get back from that expedition,” said the indefatigable
narrator, “they’ll decorate us with the Southern Cross that shines up
there in the Creator’s button-hole.”
“Ay, and you’d have well earned it!” said the sailors.
Thus passed the long evenings on the forecastle in merry chat, and
during the same time the doctor went on with his instructive discourses.
One day the conversation turned upon the means of directing balloons,
and the doctor was asked his opinion about it.
“I don’t think,” said he, “that we shall succeed in finding out a
system of directing them. I am familiar with all the plans attempted
and proposed, and not one has succeeded, not one is practicable. You may
readily understand that I have occupied my mind with this subject, which
was, necessarily, so interesting to me, but I have not been able to
solve the problem with the appliances now known to mechanical science.
We would have to discover a motive power of extraordinary force, and
almost impossible lightness of machinery. And, even then, we could not
resist atmospheric currents of any considerable strength. Until now, the
effort has been rather to direct the car than the balloon, and that has
been one great error.”
“Still there are many points of resemblance between a balloon and a ship
which is directed at will.”
“Not at all,” retorted the doctor, “there is little or no similarity
between the two cases. Air is infinitely less dense than water, in which
the ship is only half submerged, while the whole bulk of a balloon is
plunged in the atmosphere, and remains motionless with reference to the
element that surrounds it.”
“You think, then, that aerostatic science has said its last word?”
“Not at all! not at all! But we must look for another point in the case,
and if we cannot manage to guide our balloon, we must, at least, try to
keep it in favorable aerial currents. In proportion as we ascend,
the latter become much more uniform and flow more constantly in one
direction. They are no longer disturbed by the mountains and valleys
that traverse the surface of the globe, and these, you know, are the
chief cause of the variations of the wind and the inequality of their
force. Therefore, these zones having been once determined, the balloon
will merely have to be placed in the currents best adapted to its
destination.”
“But then,” continued Captain Bennet, “in order to reach them, you must
keep constantly ascending or descending. That is the real difficulty,
doctor.”
“And why, my dear captain?”
“Let us understand one another. It would be a difficulty and an obstacle
only for long journeys, and not for short aerial excursions.”
“And why so, if you please?”
“Because you can ascend only by throwing out ballast; you can descend
only after letting off gas, and by these processes your ballast and your
gas are soon exhausted.”
“My dear sir, that’s the whole question. There is the only difficulty
that science need now seek to overcome. The problem is not how to guide
the balloon, but how to take it up and down without expending the
gas which is its strength, its life-blood, its soul, if I may use the
expression.”
“You are right, my dear doctor; but this problem is not yet solved; this
means has not yet been discovered.”
“I beg your pardon, it HAS been discovered.”
“By whom?”
“By me!”
“By you?”
“You may readily believe that otherwise I should not have risked this
expedition across Africa in a balloon. In twenty-four hours I should
have been without gas!”
“But you said nothing about that in England?”
“No! I did not want to have myself overhauled in public. I saw no use in
that. I made my preparatory experiments in secret and was satisfied. I
have no occasion, then, to learn any thing more from them.”
“Well! doctor, would it be proper to ask what is your secret?”
“Here it is, gentlemen--the simplest thing in the world!”
The attention of his auditory was now directed to the doctor in the
utmost degree as he quietly proceeded with his explanation.
CHAPTER TENTH.
Former Experiments.--The Doctor’s Five Receptacles.--The Gas
Cylinder.--The Calorifere.--The System of Manoeuvring.--Success certain.
“The attempt has often been made, gentlemen,” said the doctor, “to rise
and descend at will, without losing ballast or gas from the balloon. A
French aeronaut, M. Meunier, tried to accomplish this by compressing air
in an inner receptacle. A Belgian, Dr. Van Hecke, by means of wings
and paddles, obtained a vertical power that would have sufficed in most
cases, but the practical results secured from these experiments have
been insignificant.
“I therefore resolved to go about the thing more directly; so, at the
start, I dispensed with ballast altogether, excepting as a provision for
cases of special emergency, such as the breakage of my apparatus, or
the necessity of ascending very suddenly, so as to avoid unforeseen
obstacles.
“My means of ascent and descent consist simply in dilating or
contracting the gas that is in the balloon by the application of
different temperatures, and here is the method of obtaining that result.
“You saw me bring on board with the car several cases or receptacles,
the use of which you may not have understood. They are five in number.
“The first contains about twenty-five gallons of water, to which I add
a few drops of sulphuric acid, so as to augment its capacity as a
conductor of electricity, and then I decompose it by means of a powerful
Buntzen battery. Water, as you know, consists of two parts of hydrogen
to one of oxygen gas.
“The latter, through the action of the battery, passes at its positive
pole into the second receptacle. A third receptacle, placed above the
second one, and of double its capacity, receives the hydrogen passing
into it by the negative pole.
“Stopcocks, of which one has an orifice twice the size of the other,
communicate between these receptacles and a fourth one, which is
called the mixture reservoir, since in it the two gases obtained by the
decomposition of the water do really commingle. The capacity of this
fourth tank is about forty-one cubic feet.
“On the upper part of this tank is a platinum tube provided with a
stopcock.
“You will now readily understand, gentlemen, the apparatus that I have
described to you is really a gas cylinder and blow-pipe for oxygen and
hydrogen, the heat of which exceeds that of a forge fire.
“This much established, I proceed to the second part of my apparatus.
From the lowest part of my balloon, which is hermetically closed, issue
two tubes a little distance apart. The one starts among the upper layers
of the hydrogen gas, the other amid the lower layers.
“These two pipes are provided at intervals with strong jointings of
india-rubber, which enable them to move in harmony with the oscillations
of the balloon.
“Both of them run down as far as the car, and lose themselves in an
iron receptacle of cylindrical form, which is called the heat-tank. The
latter is closed at its two ends by two strong plates of the same metal.
“The pipe running from the lower part of the balloon runs into this
cylindrical receptacle through the lower plate; it penetrates the latter
and then takes the form of a helicoidal or screw-shaped spiral, the
rings of which, rising one over the other, occupy nearly the whole of
the height of the tank. Before again issuing from it, this spiral runs
into a small cone with a concave base, that is turned downward in the
shape of a spherical cap.
“It is from the top of this cone that the second pipe issues, and it
runs, as I have said, into the upper beds of the balloon.
“The spherical cap of the small cone is of platinum, so as not to melt
by the action of the cylinder and blow-pipe, for the latter are placed
upon the bottom of the iron tank in the midst of the helicoidal
spiral, and the extremity of their flame will slightly touch the cap in
question.
“You all know, gentlemen, what a calorifere, to heat apartments, is. You
know how it acts. The air of the apartments is forced to pass through
its pipes, and is then released with a heightened temperature. Well,
what I have just described to you is nothing more nor less than a
calorifere.
“In fact, what is it that takes place? The cylinder once lighted, the
hydrogen in the spiral and in the concave cone becomes heated, and
rapidly ascends through the pipe that leads to the upper part of the
balloon. A vacuum is created below, and it attracts the gas in the lower
parts; this becomes heated in its turn, and is continually replaced;
thus, an extremely rapid current of gas is established in the pipes and
in the spiral, which issues from the balloon and then returns to it, and
is heated over again, incessantly.
“Now, the cases increase 1/480 of their volume for each degree of heat
applied. If, then, I force the temperature 18 degrees, the hydrogen of
the balloon will dilate 18/480 or 1614 cubic feet, and will, therefore,
displace 1614 more cubic feet of air, which will increase its
ascensional power by 160 pounds. This is equivalent to throwing out that
weight of ballast. If I augment the temperature by 180 degrees, the gas
will dilate 180/480 and will displace 16,740 cubic feet more, and its
ascensional force will be augmented by 1,600 pounds.
“Thus, you see, gentlemen, that I can easily effect very considerable
changes of equilibrium. The volume of the balloon has been calculated
in such manner that, when half inflated, it displaces a weight of air
exactly equal to that of the envelope containing the hydrogen gas,
and of the car occupied by the passengers, and all its apparatus and
accessories. At this point of inflation, it is in exact equilibrium with
the air, and neither mounts nor descends.
“In order, then, to effect an ascent, I give the gas a temperature
superior to the temperature of the surrounding air by means of my
cylinder. By this excess of heat it obtains a larger distention, and
inflates the balloon more. The latter, then, ascends in proportion as I
heat the hydrogen.
“The descent, of course, is effected by lowering the heat of the
cylinder, and letting the temperature abate. The ascent would
be, usually, more rapid than the descent; but that is a fortunate
circumstance, since it is of no importance to me to descend rapidly,
while, on the other hand, it is by a very rapid ascent that I avoid
obstacles. The real danger lurks below, and not above.
“Besides, as I have said, I have a certain quantity of ballast, which
will enable me to ascend more rapidly still, when necessary. My valve,
at the top of the balloon, is nothing more nor less than a safety-valve.
The balloon always retains the same quantity of hydrogen, and the
variations of temperature that I produce in the midst of this shut-up
gas are, of themselves, sufficient to provide for all these ascending
and descending movements.
“Now, gentlemen, as a practical detail, let me add this:
“The combustion of the hydrogen and of the oxygen at the point of the
cylinder produces solely the vapor or steam of water. I have, therefore,
provided the lower part of the cylindrical iron box with a scape-pipe,
with a valve operating by means of a pressure of two atmospheres;
consequently, so soon as this amount of pressure is attained, the steam
escapes of itself.
“Here are the exact figures: 25 gallons of water, separated into its
constituent elements, yield 200 pounds of oxygen and 25 pounds of
hydrogen. This represents, at atmospheric tension, 1,800 cubic feet of
the former and 3,780 cubic feet of the latter, or 5,670 cubic feet,
in all, of the mixture. Hence, the stopcock of my cylinder, when fully
open, expends 27 cubic feet per hour, with a flame at least six times
as strong as that of the large lamps used for lighting streets. On an
average, then, and in order to keep myself at a very moderate elevation,
I should not burn more than nine cubic feet per hour, so that my
twenty-five gallons of water represent six hundred and thirty-six hours
of aerial navigation, or a little more than twenty-six days.
“Well, as I can descend when I please, to replenish my stock of water on
the way, my trip might be indefinitely prolonged.
“Such, gentlemen, is my secret. It is simple, and, like most simple
things, it cannot fail to succeed. The dilation and contraction of the
gas in the balloon is my means of locomotion, which calls for neither
cumbersome wings, nor any other mechanical motor. A calorifere to
produce the changes of temperature, and a cylinder to generate the heat,
are neither inconvenient nor heavy. I think, therefore, that I have
combined all the elements of success.”
Dr. Ferguson here terminated his discourse, and was most heartily
applauded. There was not an objection to make to it; all had been
foreseen and decided.
“However,” said the captain, “the thing may prove dangerous.”
“What matters that,” replied the doctor, “provided that it be
practicable?”
CHAPTER ELEVENTH.
The Arrival at Zanzibar.--The English Consul.--Ill-will of the
Inhabitants.--The Island of Koumbeni.--The Rain-Makers.--Inflation of
the Balloon.--Departure on the 18th of April.--The last Good-by.--The
Victoria.
An invariably favorable wind had accelerated the progress of the
Resolute toward the place of her destination. The navigation of the
Mozambique Channel was especially calm and pleasant. The agreeable
character of the trip by sea was regarded as a good omen of the probable
issue of the trip through the air. Every one looked forward to the
hour of arrival, and sought to give the last touch to the doctor’s
preparations.
At length the vessel hove in sight of the town of Zanzibar, upon the
island of the same name, and, on the 15th of April, at 11 o’clock in the
morning, she anchored in the port.
The island of Zanzibar belongs to the Imaum of Muscat, an ally of France
and England, and is, undoubtedly, his finest settlement. The port is
frequented by a great many vessels from the neighboring countries.
The island is separated from the African coast only by a channel, the
greatest width of which is but thirty miles.
It has a large trade in gums, ivory, and, above all, in “ebony,” for
Zanzibar is the great slave-market. Thither converges all the booty
captured in the battles which the chiefs of the interior are continually
fighting. This traffic extends along the whole eastern coast, and as far
as the Nile latitudes. Mr. G. Lejean even reports that he has seen it
carried on, openly, under the French flag.
Upon the arrival of the Resolute, the English consul at Zanzibar came
on board to offer his services to the doctor, of whose projects the
European newspapers had made him aware for a month past. But, up to that
moment, he had remained with the numerous phalanx of the incredulous.
“I doubted,” said he, holding out his hand to Dr. Ferguson, “but now I
doubt no longer.”
He invited the doctor, Kennedy, and the faithful Joe, of course, to
his own dwelling. Through his courtesy, the doctor was enabled to have
knowledge of the various letters that he had received from Captain
Speke. The captain and his companions had suffered dreadfully from
hunger and bad weather before reaching the Ugogo country. They could
advance only with extreme difficulty, and did not expect to be able to
communicate again for a long time.
“Those are perils and privations which we shall manage to avoid,” said
the doctor.
The baggage of the three travellers was conveyed to the consul’s
residence. Arrangements were made for disembarking the balloon upon the
beach at Zanzibar. There was a convenient spot, near the signal-mast,
close by an immense building, that would serve to shelter it from the
east winds. This huge tower, resembling a tun standing on one end,
beside which the famous Heidelberg tun would have seemed but a very
ordinary barrel, served as a fortification, and on its platform were
stationed Belootchees, armed with lances. These Belootchees are a kind
of brawling, good-for-nothing Janizaries.
But, when about to land the balloon, the consul was informed that the
population of the island would oppose their doing so by force.
Nothing is so blind as fanatical passion. The news of the arrival of a
Christian, who was to ascend into the air, was received with rage. The
negroes, more exasperated than the Arabs, saw in this project an attack
upon their religion. They took it into their heads that some mischief
was meant to the sun and the moon. Now, these two luminaries are objects
of veneration to the African tribes, and they determined to oppose so
sacrilegious an enterprise.
The consul, informed of their intentions, conferred with Dr. Ferguson
and Captain Bennet on the subject. The latter was unwilling to yield
to threats, but his friend dissuaded him from any idea of violent
retaliation.
“We shall certainly come out winners,” he said. “Even the imaum’s
soldiers will lend us a hand, if we need it. But, my dear captain, an
accident may happen in a moment, and it would require but one unlucky
blow to do the balloon an irreparable injury, so that the trip would be
totally defeated; therefore we must act with the greatest caution.”
“But what are we to do? If we land on the coast of Africa, we shall
encounter the same difficulties. What are we to do?”
“Nothing is more simple,” replied the consul. “You observe those small
islands outside of the port; land your balloon on one of them; surround
it with a guard of sailors, and you will have no risk to run.”
“Just the thing!” said the doctor, “and we shall be entirely at our ease
in completing our preparations.”
The captain yielded to these suggestions, and the Resolute was headed
for the island of Koumbeni. During the morning of the 16th April, the
balloon was placed in safety in the middle of a clearing in the great
woods, with which the soil is studded.
Two masts, eighty feet in height, were raised at the same distance from
each other. Blocks and tackle, placed at their extremities, afforded the
means of elevating the balloon, by the aid of a transverse rope. It
was then entirely uninflated. The interior balloon was fastened to the
exterior one, in such manner as to be lifted up in the same way. To the
lower end of each balloon were fixed the pipes that served to introduce
the hydrogen gas.
The whole day, on the 17th, was spent in arranging the apparatus
destined to produce the gas; it consisted of some thirty casks, in which
the decomposition of water was effected by means of iron-filings and
sulphuric acid placed together in a large quantity of the first-named
fluid. The hydrogen passed into a huge central cask, after having been
washed on the way, and thence into each balloon by the conduit-pipes.
In this manner each of them received a certain accurately-ascertained
quantity of gas. For this purpose, there had to be employed eighteen
hundred and sixty-six pounds of sulphuric acid, sixteen thousand and
fifty pounds of iron, and nine thousand one hundred and sixty-six
gallons of water. This operation commenced on the following night, about
three A.M., and lasted nearly eight hours. The next day, the balloon,
covered with its network, undulated gracefully above its car, which was
held to the ground by numerous sacks of earth. The inflating apparatus
was put together with extreme care, and the pipes issuing from the
balloon were securely fitted to the cylindrical case.
The anchors, the cordage, the instruments, the travelling-wraps, the
awning, the provisions, and the arms, were put in the place assigned to
them in the car. The supply of water was procured at Zanzibar. The two
hundred pounds of ballast were distributed in fifty bags placed at the
bottom of the car, but within arm’s-reach.
These preparations were concluded about five o’clock in the evening,
while sentinels kept close watch around the island, and the boats of the
Resolute patrolled the channel.
The blacks continued to show their displeasure by grimaces and
contortions. Their obi-men, or wizards, went up and down among the angry
throngs, pouring fuel on the flame of their fanaticism; and some of the
excited wretches, more furious and daring than the rest, attempted to
get to the island by swimming, but they were easily driven off.
Thereupon the sorceries and incantations commenced; the “rain-makers,”
who pretend to have control over the clouds, invoked the storms and the
“stone-showers,” as the blacks call hail, to their aid. To compel them
to do so, they plucked leaves of all the different trees that grow in
that country, and boiled them over a slow fire, while, at the same time,
a sheep was killed by thrusting a long needle into its heart. But, in
spite of all their ceremonies, the sky remained clear and beautiful,
and they profited nothing by their slaughtered sheep and their ugly
grimaces.
The blacks then abandoned themselves to the most furious orgies, and
got fearfully drunk on “tembo,” a kind of ardent spirits drawn from
the cocoa-nut tree, and an extremely heady sort of beer called “togwa.”
Their chants, which were destitute of all melody, but were sung in
excellent time, continued until far into the night.
About six o’clock in the evening, the captain assembled the travellers
and the officers of the ship at a farewell repast in his cabin. Kennedy,
whom nobody ventured to question now, sat with his eyes riveted on Dr.
Ferguson, murmuring indistinguishable words. In other respects, the
dinner was a gloomy one. The approach of the final moment filled
everybody with the most serious reflections. What had fate in store for
these daring adventurers? Should they ever again find themselves in the
midst of their friends, or seated at the domestic hearth? Were their
travelling apparatus to fail, what would become of them, among those
ferocious savage tribes, in regions that had never been explored, and in
the midst of boundless deserts?
Such thoughts as these, which had been dim and vague until then, or but
slightly regarded when they came up, returned upon their excited fancies
with intense force at this parting moment. Dr. Ferguson, still cold and
impassible, talked of this, that, and the other; but he strove in vain
to overcome this infectious gloominess. He utterly failed.
As some demonstration against the personal safety of the doctor and his
companions was feared, all three slept that night on board the Resolute.
At six o’clock in the morning they left their cabin, and landed on the
island of Koumbeni.
The balloon was swaying gently to and fro in the morning breeze;
the sand-bags that had held it down were now replaced by some twenty
strong-armed sailors, and Captain Bennet and his officers were present
to witness the solemn departure of their friends.
At this moment Kennedy went right up to the doctor, grasped his hand,
and said:
“Samuel, have you absolutely determined to go?”
“Solemnly determined, my dear Dick.”
“I have done every thing that I could to prevent this expedition, have I
not?”
“Every thing!”
“Well, then, my conscience is clear on that score, and I will go with
you.”
“I was sure you would!” said the doctor, betraying in his features swift
traces of emotion.
At last the moment of final leave-taking arrived. The captain and
his officers embraced their dauntless friends with great feeling, not
excepting even Joe, who, worthy fellow, was as proud and happy as a
prince. Every one in the party insisted upon having a final shake of the
doctor’s hand.
At nine o’clock the three travellers got into their car. The doctor lit
the combustible in his cylinder and turned the flame so as to produce a
rapid heat, and the balloon, which had rested on the ground in perfect
equipoise, began to rise in a few minutes, so that the seamen had to
slacken the ropes they held it by. The car then rose about twenty feet
above their heads.
“My friends!” exclaimed the doctor, standing up between his two
companions, and taking off his hat, “let us give our aerial ship a name
that will bring her good luck! let us christen her Victoria!”
This speech was answered with stentorian cheers of “Huzza for the Queen!
Huzza for Old England!”
At this moment the ascensional force of the balloon increased
prodigiously, and Ferguson, Kennedy, and Joe, waved a last good-by to
their friends.
“Let go all!” shouted the doctor, and at the word the Victoria shot
rapidly up into the sky, while the four carronades on board the Resolute
thundered forth a parting salute in her honor.
CHAPTER TWELFTH
Crossing the Strait.--The Mrima.--Dick’s Remark and Joe’s
Proposition.--A Recipe for Coffee-making.--The Uzaramo.--The Unfortunate
Maizan.--Mount Dathumi.--The Doctor’s Cards.--Night under a Nopal.
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
southwest. 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 color upon a vast planisphere;
the fields had the appearance of patterns of different colors, and thick
clumps of green indicated the groves and thickets.
The inhabitants of the island looked no larger than insects. The
huzzaing 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 sped on its flight.
“How fine that is!” said Joe, breaking 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
tension of the gas increased, and the Victoria attained the height of
twenty-five hundred feet.
The Resolute looked like a mere 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 spy-glass 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 a tremendous volley of exclamations. The
“ohs!” and the “ahs!” exploded one after the other, incessantly, from
his lips.
During his passage over the sea the doctor deemed it best to keep at his
present elevation. He could thus reconnoitre a greater stretch of the
coast. The thermometer and the barometer, hanging up inside of the
half-opened awning, were always within sight, and a 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 neared 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 Mrima 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 coast-line, rounded away along
the distant horizon, and Mount Nguru reared aloft its sharp summit in
the northwest.
The Victoria passed near to a village which the doctor found marked upon
his chart as Kaole. 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 route traced
by Captains Burton and Speke.
Kennedy had, at length, become as talkative as Joe, and the two kept up
a continual interchange of admiring interjections and exclamations.
“Out upon stage-coaches!” 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 trouble to spread herself out
before one’s eyes!”
“What a splendid sight! What a spectacle! What a delight! a dream in a
hammock!”
“Suppose we take our breakfast?” was Joe’s unpoetical change of tune, at
last, for the keen, open air had mightily sharpened his appetite.
“Good idea, my boy!”
“Oh! 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 to spare, for
that matter, 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 precisely,” said Ferguson, “but still if the gas were to take fire
it would burn up gradually, and we should 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.”
“Well, master, 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 Nunez.”
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
verdure. 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 leopards’ fangs. Luxuriant vegetation spread in 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 travellers with
their vain imprecations while they remained in sight.
At noon, the doctor, upon consulting his map, calculated that they were
passing over the Uzaramo* country. The soil was thickly studded with
cocoa-nut, papaw, and cotton-wood 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 descried some
hares and quails that asked nothing better than to get a good shot from
his fowling-piece, but it would have been powder wasted, since there was
no time to pick up the game.
* U and Ou signify country in the language of that region.
The aeronauts swept on with the speed of twelve miles per hour, and soon
were passing in thirty-eight degrees twenty minutes east longitude, over
the village of Tounda.
“It was there,” said the doctor, “that Burton and Speke 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 reigning 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 descry a caravan resting in a “kraal,” awaiting the
freshness and cool of the evening to resume its route. These kraals are
wide patches of cleared land, surrounded by hedges and jungles, where
traders take shelter against not only the wild beasts, but also the
robber tribes of the country. They could see the natives running and
scattering in all directions at the sight 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 muskets,” he said, “and our balloon would 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 at a respectful distance from yon miscreants. What
must they think as they see us sailing in the air? I’m sure they must
feel like worshipping us!”
“Let them worship away, then,” replied the doctor, “but at a distance.
There is no harm done in getting as far 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 latitude. 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 are the nearest ranges of the Ourizara--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 grant idea of yours, sir,” said Joe. “It’s mighty easy to
manage it; you turn a cock, and the thing’s done.”
“Ah! 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 traveller, expired in
1845, for we are over the village of Deje-la-Mhora, to 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 wretch’s head before it had been cut from the body. The unfortunate
Frenchman was but twenty-six years of age.”
“And France has never avenged so hideous a crime?” said Kennedy.
“France did demand satisfaction, and the Said of Zanzibar did all in his
power to capture the murderer, but in vain.”
“I move that we don’t stop here!” urged 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?” asked 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 in 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 descended the farther slope, the acclivity 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 nopal,
caught on it firmly. Joe at 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 at rest
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 we traversed to-day?” 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 “Der Neuester Endeckungen in Afrika” (“The
Latest Discoveries in Africa”), published at Gotha by his learned friend
Dr. Petermann, and by that savant sent to him. This Atlas was to serve
the doctor on his whole journey; for it contained the itinerary of
Burton and Speke to the great lakes; the Soudan, according to Dr. Barth;
the Lower Senegal, according to Guillaume Lejean; and the Delta of the
Niger, by Dr. Blaikie.
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 Nilotic
Discovery, by Charles Beke, D.D.”
He also had the excellent charts published in the “Bulletins of the
Geographical Society of London;” and not a single point of the countries
already discovered could, therefore, escape his notice.
Upon tracing on his maps, he found that his latitudinal route had been
two degrees, or one hundred and twenty 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 party
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, well wrapped in their blankets, stretched themselves
at full length under the awning, and slept quietly; while Dr. Ferguson
kept on the lookout.
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