Smyrna times., 1859-10-13
The Perils of BalloOning.
THRILLING NARRATIVE OF THE ADVENTURES o.
MEssRs. La MOUNTAIN AND HADDoCK.

Prot. La Mountain and Mr.. Haddock, who
ascended in the balloon Atlantic, from Water
town, N. Y. on the 22d of September, and for
whose safety much fear was felt, landed safely
about one hundred and fifty miles north of OF.
taway, in the great Canadian wilderness, at a
point about fifty miles west of Lake st. John,
the head of the Saguenay river, and about mid
way between the st. Lawrence river and James
bay. Mr. Haddock has written long but in
terestng account of their wanderingS and suf.
ferings IN the wilderness. 1t appears the bal
loonlsts wtre up in the air some four to five
hours, when finding themselves over a dense
wilderness, and the darkness of the night
around them, they concluded to descend. They
did so and passed the night in the balloon fast
ened to the top of tall spruce tree, and ex-
posed to a drenching rain. At daylight they
again ascended and here we leave Mr.. Had
dock to speak for himself:
GAS the current was driving US still to the
north, we dare not stay up, we were drifting
farther and still farther to the " frozen tide !"
from which we knew there could be no escape.
Mr.. La NJ. seized the valve cord and dlscharg-
ed gas, and we descended IN safety by the side
OF large spruce. We made the Atlantic fast
by her anchor, and for moment talked over
what we should do. We had not mouthiul to
eat, no protection at night from the damp
ground, were distant we knew not how far
from habltation, were hungry to start with, no
earthly hope OF raising a fire and no distinct
idea as 10 where we were. We settled IN our
own minds that we were in John Browns tract
or in the great Canada wilderness-to the
south, we thought, of the Ottawa, and knew
that a course south by east would take US out
II we had strength enough to travel The dis
tance. La Nj. stepped up 10 the balloon and
gave the edge of the basket a parting shake,
saying, Good bye, old Atlantic and fanced
could see tear In his honest eye when he
said it,"
a minute account Of their wanderlngs in a
dense forest is then gwen. They travelled
miles on foot aIoag creek. crossed and re-
crossed 1t on log, slept on its banks, suffering
intensely meanwhile from cold and wet wealth.
er. Subsequently they formed a raft, and on
this slowly proceeded on by polling it, in the
hope of reaching some habilable settlement.-
Here we quote:
at had now been four full days since we ate
a meal. All we had ate in the meantime was /.
|
whose acid properties and bitter taste had pro-
badly done US more harm than good. Our
strength was beginning TO fail very fast, and
our systems were evidently about to undergo an
extraordinary change. | did not permit myself
to think of tood-the thought OF a we'll covered
table would have been too much | thought
over all OF poor Strains sutferings OH the 18TH
mus of Darlen, where he, too, was padding
raft down an unknown stream d; but never be-
lieved we could stand halt the amount OF suffer.
ing he did. Besides, he had means to make
ire-we had none. He was upon stream
which he knew would lead to the sea and safe
ty we were upon waters whose flow we knew
really nothing Of. aud were as much lost as
though in the mountains of the moon. But we
could not give 1t up So, aud took fresh cour-
age as troubles appeared to thlcken."
Soon after they heard the report of gun,
and the two lost men pa+died their raft in the
direction whence the report came, distance OF
nearly mile. Seeing a shantee. Mr. Haddock
rushed on shore. Here we quote again:
n al halloed-a noise was heard inside, and a
noble looking IGdian calho 10 the door. VOuS
parIey FraHcatSe was u, ctser inquiry, as
J grasped his outsrretched hand Yes, sir and
, Eng llsn, TOO He drew me into the cabin, a. nd
there was The head ofthe party, noble.hearted
Scotchman, named Angus Cameron. | imme.
diately told my story-that we came in with a
D boloon, were lost, and had been four days with.
D out fOod-askiDg where we were. Imagine my
f surprise when he suld we were one hundred
and fifty miles due nerth of Ottawa-in the
dense, uniahabited forest, whose only limit wal
Il the Arctic circle. In word, we were nearly
y 800 miles in a due north course from Water
j. town, in latitude AZ.
"Dnner was all ready. The party consisted
of four persons-Mr. Cameron and his assist
ant, who was also named Cameron, LaMab Nc
d Dougai, a alfbreed, and his son Beauceh
dispatched the young Indian after La Noun
a tain, who came in after a moment the absolut,
:. picture of wretchedness All that the cabil
- contained was freely rendered us, aud we begai
e to eat. Language is inadequate to express ou
sensations while doing SO. The clouds bad al
e lifted from our sombre future, and the silve
e lining shone all the brighter for the dee
?. darkness through which we had passed."
Is The narrative concludes with an account {
their return to Wstertows, N. Y. They wer
conducted sixty miles through the Canada
70 - wilderness by Indians.
or Professor Coe, accompanied by Mr.. Cottmal
to of Rome, made a balloon ascension at Rome, \
be Y, Sept 30th. When at the height Of mil,
y, the balloon burst, aud turned up in the top
bs the netting, forming parachute. The voy
en- gers, after perIlous descent, landed safely
he a swamp, three miles from the starting point.
GEORGIA is probably the lightest taxed Sta
ro- in the Union. Its State tax is only two-thir
nd Of a mill on the dollar. A man owning $Il
las 600 of property pays ouly 50 81 taxes. Geore
ad is one of the most AourIshing States; al
he rapidly rising in manufactures as well as ia a
,od riculture.
THEIRS are no bufalo robes now in first har
by in the country. The last lot of $4,000 W,
ng, sold in New York, few days since, fanQi