The pilot and transcript. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1840-1841, 1841-01-08
THE PILOT.
From BLGcktoood's Magazine.
balloon VENTURE Az NIGH

projected the enterprise which has strikingly
sigma lied the serostation of our day. On Mon
day, Nov. 7, 1S36,--at half past one IN the al
ternoon, the balloon rose from Vauxhall Gar
dens, Uondon,) with moderate breeze from
the south east. 1t passed over Kent. The wea-
tier was singularly fine. At five minutes past
four they saw the sea. after passing Canterbu-
~, the course altered towards the north, which
would have carried them into the &c man Ocean.
The point was now to change the cot Sc in the
direction of Paris Ballast was now thrown
out, the balloon rose in upper current, recov-
cred her direction to the south east, and crossed
the Straits of Dover in exactly an hour, about
5000 feet above the level of the sea.
1t was fifty minutes past five, consequently
the balloon rapidly plunged into the night. The
aspect of the world beneath now became curious
in the extreme. The whole plane of the earth'ss
surface for leagues round, as far and farther,
than the eye could distinctly embrace, seemed
absolutely teeming with the scattered fires OF
the population, and exhibited starry spectacle
below, that almost riValled the lustre of the
armament above. necessarily, during the
early portion of the night, before the inhabi
tants had retired to rest, large sources of light
exhibiting the presence of some more exclusive
community would appear just looming above
the horizon In the direction in which they were
| advancing, bearing at first no faint resemblance
| OF some vast conhagrauen. By degrees, as
they grew higher, this confused mass of illu-
| mination would appear to increase 10 Intensity,
extending over large portion of the view, aud
assuming more distinct appearance, until al
length, as the balloon passed directly over the
| spot, it suddenly revolVed itself into streets
and squares, exhibiting the perfect model of a
| town, but diminished into curious ninuteness
| by the height from which it was seen. In
this manner the eronauts rapidly traversed a
large space of the continent, embracing a sue
| IF and uill AIx-
guished by their nightly Examinations. One
of these views singularly captvated their at
| tention. They approached a district which
| seemed actually to blaze with innumerable
fires, studding the whole horizon. AS they
swept along, they saw a central city in the
midst of this circle of fame, with every line Of
its streets marked out by its particular range of
| illumination. The theatres and other public
| buildings, tie squares, and all the most promi-
nent features of the city, were indicated by the
large aecumulations of light. They could even
hear the busy mHrmur of the population-the
whole forming an earthly picture of the most
striking contrast to the darkness, the serenity,
and the silence of the vast region above, in
which they were moving. This was the city of
Liege, whose surrounding iron foundries caused
| the horizon of fame This was the last spec
tacIe of the kind which met d.eir eyes
| Thenceforth it was all midnight; every sound
was hushed, every light d:ed, and all was So
Tenn and awful obscurity. Withdrawn from
| the earth, which was buried in the pTofoundest
stiffness, they looked to the heavens. There
was no moon. The hue of the sky was in
tenseIy black, but the stars, redoubled in their
lustre, shone like sparks of the whitest silver
Occasional flashes of lightning in the north.
While they Were thus rushing with alnloz
whirlwind rapidity through the ocean of dark
ness, yet almost unconscious of motion, an Incl
| dent occurred calculated to alarm them in an
| extraordinary degree. BY the discharge of bal
| last the balloon had suddenly raised to an ele-
walton of about 1000 feet, about two miles, -
In a few moments after they heard violent
burst from the top of the balloon, followed by a
Loud rustling OF silk, and all the signs of its hav
| ing been torn suddenly open. Immediately the
car began to toss, as if severed from the ropes,
and appeared to be sinking to the earth. A Sc
cond and a third explosion followed rapidly,
evidently giving the voyagers the impression
that they were upon the point OF being dashed to
pieces.
But the alarm was brief. The great machine
suddenly recovered its stiffness, and all was
| calm again The conclusions were subsequent
ly accounted for by the st: etching fthe net work
on the surface of the balloon, which had become
frozen during the night. When the machine
suddenly shot up into the higher atmosphere, it
| swelled, and it was the resistance of the frozen
net work to this swelling, which produced the
successive explosions. The sinking of the car
| was an illusion, occasioned by the surprise and
| suddenness of the action. When the net W. TX
had been relieved and the balloon was thus suf-
fered to take its proper shape, all was calm and
regular once more.
i In situation, which it was never in the
power of man to describe before, the sketch Of
night given by Mr.. ason, has all the Interest
OF new source of ideas Nothing says this
clever describer, could exceed the density of
night, which prevailed during this part of the
voyage. Not a single terrestrial object could
any where be distinguished. An unbelievable
abyss of darkness visible, seemed 10 encompass
us on every side And, as we looked forward
into its black obscurity in the direction in
which we were proceeding, we could scarcely
resist the impression that we were cleaving
! our way through an intermina5le mass of black
marble, in which we were imbeded, and which,
solid few inches before us seemed to soften
| as we approached, in order 10 admit us further
within the precincts of its cold and dusky en-
closure. Even the lights, which at times
were lowered from the car, INSTEAD of dispelling
seemed only to augment the intensity of the
surrounding darkness, and as they descended
deeper into its frozen bosom, absolutely to melt
their way downwards.' The cold was at the
point of congelation. The oil. the water, and
the coffee were completely frozen. Yet the
| sufferiHgs of the aroneauts were not severe, in
consequence of their being entirely exempt
| from the action of the wind.
During the darkness. they were sometimes
perplexed with sounds from either earth or air,
so strongly resembling the heaving of waters
against some vast line of shore, that they were
/ tempted to thiRk themselves speeding along the
shores of the German Ocean, or lowering above
the Baltic. From this apprehension, however,
tn were relieved by their recollection that
their course was unchanged. At length they
saw the day, but saw it under the most novel
and interesting circumstances. About 6 o'clock,
after crossing the Rhine, the balloon rose to a
considerable elevation, and showed them a glad
dening glimpse Of the sun. The view was now
magnificent; the balloon occupying the centre of
three thousand miles in diameter, and comp1s-
ing in single vast view scarcely less than eighty
thousand square miles. The country that spread
below was rich, undulatng, boundless land
| self among the svapors that still chung to the