The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1870-02-16

.sil lis:, sueeoRfPTtoa. l.k il3pf
4, gAi,ys slx months, o. 00; Tfi-Weekly, q &c;
isssasn OF she Acrial voyaEer.--sIiraeu. .i s1
Iona Escape.
THE Augusta Constitudonalist publishes
5 Tie, following thrilling account OF the
aaarialyoyage of Prof. King, who made D
successful, ascension from that city on
sshss oh orb! - S
Is SMEssBs. EDrToRs:s AT fifteen minutes
past A. the preparations being. all oon1-
plete, the balloon was allowed to swing
by o eingle rope, the ballast was adjust-
ed and rising clear above the reach of
those below, the cable was loosed and
the voyage began The wind was high,
and ! moved off rapidly, in q Northeast
erly direction. I knew by the shouts o;
the psopls, which were given with will,
that my balloon ascension thus far had
proved satisfactory, and began to look
around on the grand soene presented to
my view. The atmosphere was very
,cleSr, giving me prospect bounded
.ontySby the horizon, which was sharply
defined. and which presented line nm
broken by any mountainous projections
aronnd it's entire circumference. The
whole face of the country appeared ex-
ceedingly level, though occasionally I
saw some hills, but the general appear
ance was that of vast plain, had O
fine view Of the city just at the start, but
IN ,consequence Of moving away 80 fast,
could but notice it's general appear
ance Of regularity and neatness. Hear
lngs train of ,cars beneath, 7 looked
down, md found. that I had overtaken
the; Charleston train, and was having O
lively race with them: They tried hard.
as4yhave eince learned, to keep up with
me, but in vain. I crossed the road
diagonally, and left them away behind.
AChalf-past 4, I had reached the height
of zone mile, and feeling little chilly,
pat on my over-ooat. To che left of nv
course. 1 saw three yillages-they were
Graniteville, Aiken and Blackville. The
general appearance of the country was
As ifthe. whole face of it had been once a
complete forest, aud spaces made here
and there by clearing off the timber,
thus leaving the great mass of woods,
and dotting the country over with planta.
tions. Occasionally came low enough
to- hear voices of persons below, but
though ! tried repeatedly to gat some
intermation OF my whereabouts, failed
70 elicit any response to my questions.
AS passed over one house, / felt quite
sure chat the dwelIers therein had re-
Seived terrible scare, for the women
were screaming in terrible manner,
aided by o single male voice. The wind
bore me rapidly by the place, and I had
my quiet laugh at their expense, when I
saw o flash near the door of the house,
followed by the report of gun. have
srk- IL ~
balloon, but was out of the reach of any
ordinary gun, and so had another laugh
70 myself. AS sail on the water is q
good appetizar. so is q voyage in the air.
and this was no exception. Being we'll
proyisioned, partook of a hearty sun-
per, stopping occasionally to observe the
Of the balloon, and to put ont
q little. sand occasionally, for the sun was
getting lower, and the gas that had been
warmed by its rays cooling and condens-
ing. thus gradually losing O portion of
its buoyancy. Night was approaching.
and, though [ felt sure that it should be
moonlight, looked in vain for the sill
very orb. Thinking I must be mis-
taken, thought of landing without fur.
ther delay, and looking below found that
the sums rays had left the earth, though
1T was still shining on the balloon; in
pasping. over some water almost directly
beneath pae. the reflection of the moon
on its sprface, bright as the original.
caught t,nay eye; the balloon had hidden
it from me. so I continued on nv jour
ney. During the daylight, I had mo.
ticed smoke curling up from the woods
in many places, but now all over the
country near and far the fires could be
seen, fairly sprinkling the earth with
lights; In some places they were 30 nu!
merous and near together, that they gave
in the distance the exact appearance of
q large city, with its thousands of GAS.
lights. l thought at the time, however.
that no matter how fine to look mon.
they would be dangerous places to come
in contact with when landing. I looked
at my compass occasionally, and some.
times found myself going North of East
and sometimes South. beast, the upper
current carrying me in the latter direc. |
ton. ] did not know my exact where.
abouts, but hoped was nearing Charles.
ton, and. this caused mo to continue the
voyage longer than otherwise shouJd
have done. The moon did me good ser,
vice in the reflections given as T passed
along, showing the exact nature of the