Year: 1872

uoWHWaTu passage II III approached 700
near the trees. By these means he avoid
ed the loss of either gas or ballast, and
secured the use of the balloon in jour
neying out of the wilderness for longer
period. 1t has repeatedly been demon
strated in Mr.. Kings experience, but
never more fully than on this voyage,
that balloon travels with greater uni
formity and consequently with less loss
of power in the night than in the day,
when the suns heat, clouds, and other
extraneous influences cause continual
and sudden changes In the degree of
rarefaction of the gas, inducing at first
high ascent with an overflow and then
an expenditure of ballast to equalize the


buoyant power and secure for the time,
or until further waste takes place, the
equilibrium of the aerial machine For
at least six hours after passing over the
White Mountains the balloon travelled


through the air. without the loss of a


single ounce of ballast, and for the most


part at nearly the same elevation. The


quality of the gas, the wet condition of


the balloon before starting, which called


for certain added amount of buoyant


power at the outset of the voyage, and


the rapid rate at which we were travel


ing. all contributed doubtless to this re-


suit. but the main cause was the uni


form temperature encountered at given


plane of elevation. The balloon would


occasionally rise to an unusual hight,


but the overflow of gas would check its


flight, and in no instance was the es-


cape so exhaustive as to bring US fully


down to the earth. Once, toward morn


ing, we mounted above the clouds into


the clear atmosphere. and again we saw


the moon, which rose late, shining faint


ly between two strata of clouds, but for


nearly the whole night we were in, or a


short distance below. dense clouds, and


much of the time within the influence of


the rain clouds.


1t was a strange sensation, and by no


means pleasurable one, to be thus jour-


neying through the air, over a wild and


densely wooded region of which we knew


nothing-for even our own course was


hidden from us-with strong proba-


bility that We would ultimately be COM


pelled to descend, perhaps in the very


heart of the wilderness, and work our


way out as best we might, without the


most remote Indication of which direc-


ton we had best take to reach the near


est settlement, and that. hundred miles


or more away. If we had continued in


the same direction in which VIC had


travelled in the early stage of our voy-


age, we were somewhere over the north


ern wilds of Maine, but even had we


been sure regarding our actual course.


we might err vastly in our estimates of


the progress we had made, for it was an


utter impossibility for us to establish


the merest reliable fact relative to our
rate of speed since the lakes and noun


tains of Western Maine were passed


We might starye to death in the forests
in our vain endeavors to extricate our
, selves. While these and kindred thoughts
with the faces of loved ones at home who
} might never know our fate, continually
haunted our minds, neither courage nor
, calmness once forsook us, and we coolly
and manfully discussed our chances, and
determinedly laid our plans of action in
case we encountered the worst


! CAMP FIRES IN THE WILDERNESS.
Whenever we came beneath the clouds,
and for considerable space of time we
were floating above feecy masses which
l obscured the surface only in patches,
2 while the denser clouds hung about us
2 like a pail, we strained our eyes in
search of habitations or camp fires. We
: saw several of the latter at different
e times-perhaps dozen in all-but in
e every case they were too far away to
< risk descent among high trees in order


to reach them, and our most lusty at


tempts to attract the attention of the
a campers utterly failed Twice or more
a the woodsmen were known to be stirring
d their fires, for the joyous CLEAN danced
: high in the air, as if in mockery of our
+ helplessness. At one place, probably on
d the extreme upper Penobscot or some
! one of its tributaries, we saw three camp
n fires at no very great distance apart
r They were doubtless in some logging
o district. None of these 1lluminations
n appeared later than eleven or twelve o
/ clock, and we judged, and rightly too,
e that we had reached the solitudes of the
e inner and unbroken wilds.


e ON THE LOOKOUT FOR BREAKERS AHEAD.
= When the clouds were running low
y and the balloon itself CHANGED to be
2 coursing at comparatively slight alti-
e tude among them, we found it advisable
IS to keep close watch ahead for mount
IS ain peaks, in very much the same man.
d ner sailors maintain a lookout from the
5. masthead for breakers when near dan
'e gerous coast. The country seemed q
'f succession of mountain ridges, and many
le of the highest peaks lifted their giant