The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1890-05-04
GOOD STORIES OF THE PRESENT DAY.
Over the Arabian ssa and Desert in n
Balloon.

In the issues Of the Bombay papers oil
June L. 8, and Of the year 1862 will be found
reports OF Prof Mazam and his balloon, THE
! Princess" aud accounts Of successful Rscen.
sion. and each day thereafter for the next ten
days the papers recorded the fact that up to
| this time nothing has yet been hoard OF the two
men who made the ascent on the Sd inst"
turned up in Bombay In May OF the year
recorded after year aud half In other por.
tions OF India, and very soon thereafter It was
announced in the papers that Prof Mazam
the celebrated French aeronaut. would soon
make an ascension from the public gardens
| Three or four days later ran across the Pro-
fessor, and I waa gratifed and surprised to
find him to be mono 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 ad-
ventures, and had purchased the balloon OF a
| 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 Mazsm was now going
into ballooning for the adventures 1t 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 juno was q fete day. and the city
was filed with an immense crowd. Tho bal
| loon was new, very strong and Mazam had
plans beyond O mere ascension. We packed
the car with provisions enough to last week.
took along rifles, revolvers, and ammunition,
and made all preparations for a long journey.
The prevailing winds In Bombay from May to
July are from tho south. or up the Arabian
Sea, and so we privately counted on being
waited inland perhaps to the Turkish boun-
Diary. The people In general had the idea that
we would descend within q few miles Of the
town. and more than score Of men came for
ward and volunteered to make tho trip with US.
Without her burden OF baggage. the balloon
could easily have carried five or six mon. AS 1t
was, she shot up like bird when all was
ready to let go. and in few seconds the
city and its harbor were far below u.s. We at
once started on our inland journey. taking a
pace OF about fifteen miles an hour and for
three hours everything worked smoothly and
we'll. We made the ascent at sharp 2. At 5
o'clock we met O 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 cur
rent still stronger above. We then settled
down as near the earth rs It was safe to 20. but
still we drove back over our course. Seeing
that we had to 60, ballast was flung out to give
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 Cambay. This was
the last seen Of the balloon on shore.
Sf bSoop f he had no difficulty IN handIns It.
sero nshSf e tie balloon sailing out
to sea, but we ate our supper at an altitude OF
N nn
not over ton miles an hour. and sort Of fog
shutting out sight Of everything below us.
IL or to 90 on watch, but at sunrise both OF
us 0pened eur SySs and turned out at the sr
dd Snd the balloon had been EFT to take care
Of itself The compass showed her to he heading
az
being saturated and heavy with dew. We were
down where We could plainly make out several
was evidently an object OF great curiosity TO
the people on board OF some OF them; Ballast
about 1000 feet above the sea, and the sun
soon dried the dew and rendered the balloon
very buoyant A stitf breeze also got up from
road speed through the air. bound for the coast
Of Arabia During the entire day. which was
herself never varying over fifty feet in her al
titude and driving so steadily that one had but
to shut his eyes to imagine that she was stand
many craft during the day, and were consoled
by the thought that In case OF accident We
His6t es@S W SefG added 5OS feet to our a
tude, as an Offset TO the dew and as the
j SWofe twice during he night, but to and ali
quiet. and whom turned out Just at sunrise It
was TO find the Arabian coast almos under our
night we should have reached the coast at or
near MirbRt. but It had changed two or three
the sun had drisd the dew we descended until
not more than 1000 feet above the land and
then made GS SeCs an tb sSs
ern edge Of the Arabian Desert. and y was a
good hour before we saw Gny signs Of ciViliEa.
sort Of people We lad to deal with. we had loaded
all the 1reArms aud made q pile OF such bag
gage as could DO thrown away IN case We
II our air ship had lost any great amount Of
gas up to this time We could not perceive Il.
give US o drop G1t q did moi seem as II An
Sa 10 I sooner S Es Ssn 6s breeze
began 70 sgbAide. and our pace was reduced 20
1ye o. slI miles aD hour. We knew thai I
both were looking over the edge Of thS basket
~ the moving panorama belos' when We sud-
ne camp u some wandering Inbs. ~ Tie
shelters being Of canvas Or skln We hAv
sal1Ss' assgs sgSas az I Ms a "i,s many
gosn sld olLsr,s ~ swag fTae - = we're laugh.
bullet and tho fspuf' 81 IRun,
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that ihslI LofsSs appealed " 10 mere sDseks
~ tie earth
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