Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1890-10-09
Over The Desert in a Balloon

81 & E n
In the issues of the Bombay paperl
of June 4, 5, and Of the year 1876.
will be found reports of Prof. MaEan
and his balloon, The Princess, and &C.
counts of q successful ascension, ant
each day thereafter for the next tel
days the papers recorded the fact tha
up to this time nothing has yet beer
heard of the two men who made tht
ascent on the I'd inst sFg.
/ turned up in Bombay in May o
the year recorded, after year and I
half in other portions Of India, anC
very soon thereafter it was announced
in the papers that Prof. Mazam, the
celebrated French aeronaut, woulC
soon make an ascension from the pub
lie gardens Three or four days later
ran across the Professor, and was
gratifed and surprised to find him tc
be none other than an old FRIEND
whom ! had travelled with in China
He was an English speaking French
man who had seen the whole world
and taken in all sorts of adventures
and had purchased the balloon of a
genuine aeronaut who had reached
Bombay with the idea of giving as
tensions in the larger towns in the
country The aeronaut had fallen
sick, been despoiled of his cash, and
he sold his balloon to Mazam and
quit the country in disgust. Mazam
was now going into ballooning for the
adventures it might brine, and when
he invited me to make the first trip
with him / was not Eve seconds in
giving him my promise.
The Sd Of June was a fete day, and
the city was filled with an immense
crowd. The balloon was new, very
strong, and Mazsm had plans beyond a
mere ascension. We packed the car
with provisions enough to last week,
took along rifles, revolvers and ammu-
milton, and made all preparations for
o long journey. The prevailing winds
in Bombay from May to July are from
the south, or up the Arabian sea, and
80 we privately counted on being
waited inland perhaps to the Turkish
boundary. The people in general had
the idea that we would descend with
in few miles of the town and more
than score of men came forward and
volunteered to make the trip with us.
Without her burden of baggage, the
balloon could easily have carried FIVE
or six men. AS it was, she shot up
like bird when all was ready to let
60, and in a few seconds the city and
its sharbor were far below us. We
at once started on our inland journey,
taking q pace of about fifteen miles an
hour, and for three hours everything
worked smoothly and well. We made
the ascent at sharp 2. At 5 o'clock
we met q counter current of air from
the north, and in Eve minutes the bal
loon had begun to drive back to the
south. Ballast was thrown out, and
we leaped up to find the current still
stronger above. We then settled
down as near the earth as it was safe
to go, but still we drove back over our
course. Seeing that we had to go,
ballast was flung out to give us a
higher altitude, and we moved to the
northwest at the rate of ten miles an
hour. In an hour we could discern
the sea and its coast line, and as even.
ing came we left the land and hover
ed over the gulf of Cambay. This was
the last seen Of the balloon on shore.
While Mazam had never made an
ascension before, TO say nothing of the
management Of balloon, he had no
difficulty of balloon, he had no diff
ficulty in handling it, and neither of
us was at all timid. 1t was serious
matter to find the balloon sailing out
to sea, but we ate our supper at an
altitude of half o mile and hoped for
change of wind. At about 10 o'clock,
our progress then being not over ten
mile an hour, and a sort of fog shut
ting out sight of everything below us,
I went to sleep. Mazam was to arouse
me about II or l to 60 on watch, but
at sunrise both Of us opened our eyes
and turned out at the same moment.
He had fallen asleep soon after l did
and the balloon had been left to take
care Of itself. The compass showed
her to be heading due west at gentle
pace. but in another half hour she
might have been in the sea, everything
being saturated and wet with dew.
We were down where we could plainly
make out several steamers and sailing
craft, and the balloon was evidently
IN object of great curiosity to the peo-
pie on board Of some of them. Bal
last was thrown out until we reached
IN altitude Of about 1000 feet above
he sea, and the sun soon dried the
lew and rendered the balloon very
ouoyant. A stiff breeze also got up
rom the east, and by I o'clock we
we're making railroad speed through |
he air, bound for the coast Of Arabia |
During the entire day, which was q
,ery pleasant one, our craft took sole
are Of herself, never varying over
ifty feet in her altitude and driving