Omaha daily bee., 1899-10-01

were moving direct for Paris. II the wind
still hold. but we were travelling 90 fast that
we should be In Paris before midnight, and
on the ocean before daybreak.
This would never do. and as a descen,
by night is accompanied by many dangers
we decided that we must land now II at all
From 343 to 4:2S we descended from 2,lOt
feet to 1920 feet, at a rate OF 1863 feet a
minute. Almost seven feet a second.
Beneath us was a sea Of mist.
Its going too last, drop a sack OF sand
overboard-now another sackl' the captain
shouted
THE sun was hidden behind clouds. We
we're passing through a shower of sand, for
the balloon was actually falling faster than
the sand we had thrown out. 1t was the
most intensely thrilling and dangerous mo-
ment OF the voyage. Could we stop he1
tremendous descent? II not our contact
with the earth would we'll nigh annihilate
us! Imagine falling a mile and a half!
But over went more ballast, and more
and yet more. We had dropped almost a
mile when we slackened as we passed into
the clouds of mist. It was depressingly
gloomy and gray about US. We looked down,
Spelterini was the first to see the straight
white lines OF streets shining in a village.
All was at last we'll. Tn mist did not
reach so far as the earth. We could now
see how to land, but there was a strong east
wind. We sailed over the red roofs OF q
village, it was Riviere.
"Half a sack of sand overheard or we
shall land among the hop-poles-quickl'
And as we floated to the east we reached
an open, ~treeless plateau, with woods behind.
Here It was or nowhere!
Let go the anchor!'
"The anchor caught, the vents were opened
and hardly twenty seconds later the bal
loon lay half empty on the ground. II was
4:37 p. m.
142 Miles in 4 Minutes.
1.-THE balloon had passed over 142 miles in
344 minutes, or Ave hours and forty -four
minutes. In the upper current it had travelled
11S miles in 2S5 minutes. This is 40h feet
a second. We had been travelling at rail
way speed!
Blu you do not feel the speed in the bal
loon. You seem to hover stationary In that
wondrous silence. There was not the least
jolting, we did not know that we were NOV
ing unless we looked intently at the earth
beneath and saw it slipping by. We felt
the motion as little as We feel the motion
of the earth around the sun.
"our balloon journey had been neither the
highest nor the furtherest ever taken, but 1t
was the first that had ever been taken over
a specified mountain, and the first in which
a balloon had remained above 19, 1000 feet for
hours at a time.
1.-THE trip of the Vega over the Alps was
the 5O3rd successful ascension conducted by
Captain Spelterini without accident.
1--WE did not even feel dizzy" says Prot.
Helm, land our trip proved that dizziness
is not one Of the Accomplishments OF travel
ing by balloon, a long mooted question.
The most wonderful thing OF all to us was
the perfect quiet and sacred silence of the
heights. Whether the balloon went up or
down, or rushed through the air with rail-
way speed, we felt none of 1t. We were in
absolute quiet. About Is, 900 feet you hear
the blood rushing through your ears; at 49,
900 feet the noise Of the circulation OF your
blood is unbearable. 1t is altogether differ
ent from the stiffness on a mountain top.
There is still the noise coming from below,
even though brokenly. But with us the
silence was absolute-oppressive.
sensations of the voyngers.
Until we had assembled to II, 900 feet all