The Rice belt journal. (Welsh, Calcasieu Parish, La.) 1900-19??, 1904-06-24

! @ ~ o WIN !" III present
| &X .&GH conducting d series of ex-
SS44esass2seek4iX periments in marine bal
| looming on the Mediterranean, in the
vicinity of Cannes. predicts that il
Ihlngs go as he has reason to expect,
ne Will, during next summer. show
mat he can sail about on the Medit-
erranean as safely in his balloon as
he could on a yacht, remaining for a
week or fortnight on the water. He
says he has already solved the prob,
lems OF demonstrating the stability
! OIL the balloon at small elevation over
the surface Of the water for an indef-
| mite length Of time and Of deviating
| from the course of the WSDd at least
! thrty degrees. On land the Count has
| mad some wonderful adventures. His
hundredth aerial trip WAS accom-
pIishcd i'll November of last year. and
since then he has made five more as.
cents. He has beaten every record in
the world, having covered a distance
of about 1880 miles; passed So hours.
that is to say, about thirty-six days, in
his balloons, and conveyed 327 pas,
sengers.
One of the most sensational excur-
sionS l ever made" he said, was on
October 20, 1898. when NJ. MalIet and
| myself sailed over the furnaces Of
Liege, with thousand cubic metres
of infammable gas at an elevation
which was rather dangerous. and land
ed in POmerania, near ROStOck. after
a voyage Of more than go miles. 1t
was a glorious night, and at 10 o'clock
we passed over a town, where a sill
very chime rang out the hour with
tones that seemed to gather a marvel
IOus sweetness as they echoed through
the silence of the night. After passing
over tho town of. Chimay, in Hainault,
Belgium, we emerged from a momen-
tary fog and saw the Mouse, near Di-
nant like q silver streak in the land
scape, the Chateau of WalSen the old
abbey Of WaulSord, and the rock of
Bayard. The next scene was one of
the most memorable | ever witnessed.
The horizon looked strangely ilum-
mated in the distance, and as we APP
preached the lurid blaze Of light be-
came stronger, until the whole sky
seemed TO he on fire We looked at
our maps. and concluded that we were
in the vicinity Of Liege
"As We came nearer the effect was
grandiOSe. flames shot up hundreds Of
feet into the sky from innumerable
furnaces, and the sight was realisti.
cally DapteSQue. 1t required by little
imagination to make us believe that
we were about to enter the inferno, and
the d0leful inscription abandon hope, |
all ye who enter here would have been
quite in place in the burning Sky be-
fore us. Suddenly we realized that |
We had better mount higher if we did |
not want to be roasted. We quickly |
threw out some ballast, and the bal |
loon rose about 400 yards higher. 1t |
was not too much, for the cOntiagra |
ton seemed to increase every instant, |
fire belching out Of a. hundred tunnels. |
the flames roaring with 4 sinister |
noise as they shot up into the air,
rarcfying it and threatening to suck us
INTO the burning whirlpool. The sight |
was unique and fascinated us in spite
of ourselves. All the fOuudriGS and |
blasting furnaces were in full work,
crowds Of men were shouting, immense |
CyclOpean hammers rebounding on
anvils, and steam drills
were Kissing and secthing. Looking
down from our frail basket it seemed
as if the ground were burning. We
could distinguish the forms Of the
wOrkmen. who looked like pigmies sur
rounded on every side by fire, and We
wondered how they could live in the
midst Of the flames. We gave a sigh
of relief as we bounded over the last
furnace and were carried on over the
plains of Holland and the north Of
Germany. At l o'clock we landed in
q pine forest near Rostock. LONDON
Globe.