Daily Yellowstone journal., 1886-08-08
THIRTEEN HOURS IN A BALI DON.
Over Land and sea--The Exciting Expsrt-
ences OF an Aeronaut.

Over LanQ ana SEAL ne SAh~ss-
ences Of an Aeronaut.
"Tell me some hing about the most
perilous voyage you ever made was
demanded Of Professor King, the
aero aut.
"weII, let me see. The most prrilous
yoyar. | ,hink, wa over the Name and
Canada wilderness from New Hampshire
down the tiaf ot st. Lawrence.
I'VE ascende from Plymouth and
rose into the clouds. A slight rain was
failing. Our course was northwest, and
soon VIZ found ourselves over one of the
White Mountains. and we lad to throw
out ballast to keep from striking IL.
after passing over Mount Jefferson
and Mount Adams, Of the White Noun
tains. we plunged into the wilderness,
or at least passed over II About night.
fall. as We were crossing Lake Umbagog.
we saw light on one of the shores aud
Ealloed. We seemed 10 attract attention.
but no Iespons MAS mai'.
"A canoe Was pat down in the wateF
and W. coulL 5 e { do o!Giug around In
the water as il they w"Ic looking for
someth ng. J "y lhoug tn rtv piO6-
aioy came f., ,l : ilrhIlV on the water.
We soon leI p' light behind, and
heating the IN unlain shortly al Z, ward.
we dropped behind IL IL shelter and
rested for about hal an houi.
While w. were discussing Thy the by
had Luther l.. Holden of the oston
journal. III me, who had been on
some twenty live voyage, hefOrtl what
course IL would be best to pursue, being
In the vii erness and poorly provided
with provisions, we finally decided to
S art the balloon ailoat and zee II We
cnHli cross the wilderness 10 some In
habited region In Canada
Our balloon was only of 10000 feet
capacity, and not calculatei, except
Under such stress OF circumstances, to
remain alloat 20 long as We would lie.
quire To cross the wilderness. We had
still however, q bag and a half OF ballast
left. " hich We were economically using.
Just here there was natural law to
be discovered, which was OF itself suili.
oient 10 carry u through without the
use of ballast. II appears that at night
when a bal Don reaches the ordinary
cloud he ghts IL becomes posed, and
neither rises nor falls without any ex.
penditure of sand or ballast, and so will
float for hours, provided the balloon is
free from leakage.
"Well. We hoated on in the clouds,
which were occasionally over our heads,
and once or twice during the nigh We
saw the moon through the rifts AID
frequently they would break from be-
meath us, so that We would look into an
inky abyss below. The only sounds
that came to our ears were the occasional
cries of loon and the sound OF failing
waters. From our isolated position we
could constantly hear the latter.
As hour ter hou. dragged tedious.
~ away We sat IN I e car. We could
see each other and kept upa conversa-
Ii n, but we could not tell what time 1t
wa except by passing our fingers over
I hands OF our watc Is. You know
1t would have been dangerous TO strike
q match.
Pretty soon a new feature among
the sounds OF the waters struck our
ears. We wondered what au-ed The
peculiar noise, and finally concluded il
was the breakers. After as ng over
them all sounds caas, d. am we then
knew We were on the briny de p. AS it
did o seem o he policy to pursue tie
course we were in. we brought the
balloon down slightly and slowly some
1--WE, ty or thirty miles from VIII ere we had
heard the surf. u Il posted our drag
rop" upon the water his rope is an
appendage TO the balloon about 500 feet
loag md acts as bal ast when it rests
upon the water.
I'VE kept constant watch md in he
course oi an hour We saw IN I ont uf L5
a black line, which was apparently with.
In few feet OF us. and We prepared to
grasp 1t, but 1t proved an illusion, and as
we watched the object it gradually
widened and soon after our dras.rope
was caught among the tree tops We
then found that We had run ashore over
a forest presuming 1t at the time to be
an island. but as 1t turned out the
balloon had met with counter curl eEt
Of air on the water. which carried 1t
back TO the mainland. We again rested
behind hill. where We lay Till the
break Of day. when we threw out the
balance Of our ballast and rose again.
After while we dlscerned road. and
succeeded in landing within mile and
ha'f OF 1t. We made Tor the nearest
place-Sayebec. which is about $50
mites below Quebec-and learned that
the water we had gone out on was the
Gulf Of st. Lawrence. II we had cen
tinued across II we would have reached
the coast OF Labrador. $50 miles further
on As II was we travelled $50 miles IN
thir, aan houra Il n oh m Opd Di-nafah