Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1890-11-07
A BALLOON TRIP.

"A DALLUUN lhl1.
In the issues Of the Bombay papers Of
June 4, 5 and 6 of the year 1862 will be
found reports of Professor Mazam and his
balloon "The Princess" and accounts Of
a successful ascension, and each day there
after for the next ten days the papers re-
corded the fact that cup to this time moth
ing has yet been heard of the two men who
made the ascent on the Sd inst"
turned up in Bombay in May of tho
year recorded, after year and half
in other portions of India, and very soon
thereafter it was announced in the papers
that Professor Mazam, the celebrated
French aeronaut, would soon make an as
cension from the public gardens" Three
or four days later ran across the profess
sor, and was gratifed and surprised to
find him to be none other than an old
friend whom had Travelled with in China.
He was an English speaking Frenchman
who had seen the whole world and taken
in all sorts of adventures, and had pur-
chased the balloon of genuine aeronaut
who had reached Bombay, with the idea of
giving ascensions in all 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
bring, and when he invited me to make the
first trip with him was not five seconds in
giving him my promise.
The Sd of June was fete day, and the
city was filed with an immense crowd.
The balloon was new, very strong, and
Mazam had plans beyond a mere ascension.
We packed the car with provisions enough
to last a week, took along rifles, revolvers
and ammunition. and made all prepara-
tions for long journey. The prevailing
winds in Bombay from May to July are
from the south, or up the Arabian sea, and
SO we privately counted on being waited
inland, perhaps to the Turkish boundary.
The people in general had the idea that we
would descend within few miles of the
town, and more than a 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 a
bird when all was ready to let go, and in a
few seconds the city and harbor were far
below us. We at once started on our in
land journey, taking pace of about fif-
teen miles an hour, and for three hours
everything worked smoothly and well.
We made the ascent at sharp 2. At
o'clock we met a counter current of air
from the north, and in five minutes the
balloon 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 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 evening came we left
the land and lowered over the Gulf of Cam
BAY This was the last seen Of the balloon
on Shore
While Mazam had never made an ascen-
sion before, to say nothing of the manage
ment of a balloon, he had no difficulty 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 mile, and
hoped for change of wind. At about 10
o'clock, our progress then being not over
ten miles an hour, and a sort of fog shut
ting out sight of everything below us, l
went to sleep. Mazam was to arouse me
at 10 or / to go on watch, but at sunrise
at the same moment He had fallen asleep
soon after 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 be-
ing saturated and heavy with dew. We
were down where we could plainly make
out several steamers and sailing craft, and
the balloon was evidently an object of
great curiosity to the people on board some
of them. Ballast was thrown out until we
reached an altitude of 1000 feet above the
sea, and the sun soon dried the dew and
rendered the balloon very buoyant. A stiff
breeze also got up from the east, and by
7o'clock we were making railroad speed
through the air, bound for the coast of
Arabia.
During the entire day, which was very
pleasant one, our craft took sole care OF
herself, never varying over fifty feet in her
altitude, and driving SO steadily that one
had but to shut his eyes to imagine that
she was standing still From our perch we
looked down on many craft during the day,
and were consoled by the thought that in
case of accident we were pretty sure to be
picked up. When night came we added 500
feet to our altitude as an offset to the dew,
and as the weather was fine we both lay
down to sleep. / awoke twice during the
night, but to find all quiet, and when l
turned out just at sunrise it was to find
the Arabian coast almost under our feet.
Had the wind held steadily during the
night we should have reached the coast at
or near Mirbat, but it had changed two or
three points and drifted us higher up. AS
soon as the sun had dried the dew we de-
JoJ ,,ot, hon, oh
the land and then we made out very
bleak and sterile country under our feet.
We were on the northeastern edge of the
Arabian desert, and it was a good hour be-
fore we saw any signs of civilization. Mean
while, both of us knowing what sort of peo-
pie we had to deal with, we had loaded all
the firearms and made pile of such bag
gage as could be thrown away in case we
wanted a higher altitude.
IT our air ship had lost any great amount
of gas up to this time we could not perceive
it, Here and there was a wrinkle in the
silk to prove that the safety valve had been
opened to give us a drop, but it did not
seem as if an ounce had escaped by any
other means. We had no sooner left the
water than the breeze began to snbside,
and our pace was reduced to five or six
miles an hour. We knew that counter
current would soon be met with, and both
were looking over the edge of the basket at
tine moving panorama below when we
suddenly .4spied native village. 1t was,
rather, the camp of some wandering tribe,
all the shelters being of canvas or skin.
We saw camels, asses, goats and horses,
with many people moving about, and we
had only got sight Of them when they saw
u.s. Some fell down and others ran away,
and we were laughing ut their fright when