Five Weeks in a Balloon

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Neither Dr. Penney--the head of the Egyptian medical
service, who, in a small steamer, penetrated one degree
beyond Gondokoro, and then came back to die of exhaustion
at Karthoum--nor Miani, the Venetian, who, turning the
cataracts below Gondokoro, reached the second parallel--
nor the Maltese trader, Andrea Debono, who pushed his
journey up the Nile still farther--could work their way
beyond the apparently impassable limit.

In 1859, M. Guillaume Lejean, intrusted with a mission
by the French Government, reached Karthoum by
way of the Red Sea, and embarked upon the Nile with a
retinue of twenty-one hired men and twenty soldiers, but
he could not get past Gondokoro, and ran extreme risk of
his life among the negro tribes, who were in full revolt.
The expedition directed by M. d'Escayrac de Lauture
made an equally unsuccessful attempt to reach the famous
sources of the Nile.

This fatal limit invariably brought every traveller to a
halt. In ancient times, the ambassadors of Nero reached
the ninth degree of latitude, but in eighteen centuries only
from five to six degrees, or from three hundred to three
hundred and sixty geographical miles, were gained.

Many travellers endeavored to reach the sources of the
Nile by taking their point of departure on the eastern
coast of Africa.

Between 1768 and 1772 the Scotch traveller, Bruce,
set out from Massowah, a port of Abyssinia, traversed the
Tigre, visited the ruins of Axum, saw the sources of the
Nile where they did not exist, and obtained no serious result.

In 1844, Dr. Krapf, an Anglican missionary, founded
an establishment at Monbaz, on the coast of Zanguebar,
and, in company with the Rev. Dr. Rebmann, discovered
two mountain-ranges three hundred miles from the coast.
These were the mountains of Kilimandjaro and Kenia,
which Messrs. de Heuglin and Thornton have partly scaled
so recently.

In 1845, Maizan, the French explorer, disembarked,
alone, at Bagamayo, directly opposite to Zanzibar, and
got as far as Deje-la-Mhora, where the chief caused him
to be put to death in the most cruel torment.

In 1859, in the month of August, the young traveller,
Roscher, from Hamburg, set out with a caravan of Arab
merchants, reached Lake Nyassa, and was there assassinated
while he slept.

Finally, in 1857, Lieutenants Burton and Speke, both
officers in the Bengal army, were sent by the London
Geographical Society to explore the great African lakes,
and on the 17th of June they quitted Zanzibar, and
plunged directly into the west.

After four months of incredible suffering, their baggage
having been pillaged, and their attendants beaten
and slain, they arrived at Kazeh, a sort of central
rendezvous for traders and caravans. They were in the
midst of the country of the Moon, and there they collected
some precious documents concerning the manners, government,
religion, fauna, and flora of the region. They next
made for the first of the great lakes, the one named
Tanganayika, situated between the third and eighth degrees
of south latitude. They reached it on the 14th of February,
1858, and visited the various tribes residing on its
banks, the most of whom are cannibals.

They departed again on the 26th of May, and reentered
Kazeh on the 20th of June. There Burton, who
was completely worn out, lay ill for several months,
during which time Speke made a push to the northward
of more than three hundred miles, going as far as Lake
Okeracua, which he came in sight of on the 3d of August;
but he could descry only the opening of it at latitude
two degrees thirty minutes.

He reached Kazeh, on his return, on the 25th of August,
and, in company with Burton, again took up the
route to Zanzibar, where they arrived in the month of
March in the following year. These two daring explorers
then reembarked for England; and the Geographical
Society of Paris decreed them its annual prize medal.

Dr. Ferguson carefully remarked that they had not
gone beyond the second degree of south latitude, nor the
twenty-ninth of east longitude.

The problem, therefore, was how to link the explorations
of Burton and Speke with those of Dr. Barth, since
to do so was to undertake to traverse an extent of more
than twelve degrees of territory.

CHAPTER FIFTH.

Kennedy's Dreams.--Articles and Pronouns in the Plural.--Dick's Insinuations.
--A Promenade over the Map of Africa.--What is contained between two
Points of the Compass.--Expeditions now on foot.--Speke and Grant.--Krapf,
De Decken, and De Heuglin.

Dr. Ferguson energetically pushed the preparations
for his departure, and in person superintended the
construction of his balloon, with certain modifications; in
regard to which he observed the most absolute silence.
For a long time past he had been applying himself to the
study of the Arab language and the various Mandingoe
idioms, and, thanks to his talents as a polyglot, he had
made rapid progress.

In the mean while his friend, the sportsman, never let
him out of his sight--afraid, no doubt, that the doctor
might take his departure, without saying a word to anybody.
On this subject, he regaled him with the most
persuasive arguments, which, however, did NOT persuade
Samuel Ferguson, and wasted his breath in pathetic
entreaties, by which the latter seemed to be but slightly
moved. In fine, Dick felt that the doctor was slipping
through his fingers.

The poor Scot was really to be pitied. He could not look
upon the azure vault without a sombre terror: when asleep,
he felt oscillations that made his head reel; and every
night he had visions of being swung aloft at immeasurable heights.

We must add that, during these fearful nightmares,
he once or twice fell out of bed. His first care then was
to show Ferguson a severe contusion that he had received
on the cranium. "And yet," he would add, with
warmth, "that was at the height of only three feet--not
an inch more--and such a bump as this! Only think, then!"

This insinuation, full of sad meaning as it was, did not
seem to touch the doctor's heart.

"We'll not fall," was his invariable reply.

"But, still, suppose that we WERE to fall!"

"We will NOT fall!"

This was decisive, and Kennedy had nothing more to say.

What particularly exasperated Dick was, that the doctor
seemed completely to lose sight of his personality--
of his--Kennedy's--and to look upon him as irrevocably
destined to become his aerial companion. Not even the
shadow of a doubt was ever suggested; and Samuel made
an intolerable misuse of the first person plural:

"'We' are getting along; 'we' shall be ready on
the ----; 'we' shall start on the ----," etc., etc.

And then there was the singular possessive adjective:

"'Our' balloon; 'our' car; 'our' expedition."

And the same in the plural, too:

"'Our' preparations; 'our' discoveries; 'our' ascensions."

Dick shuddered at them, although he was determined
not to go; but he did not want to annoy his friend. Let
us also disclose the fact that, without knowing exactly
why himself, he had sent to Edinburgh for a certain
selection of heavy clothing, and his best hunting-gear and
fire-arms.

One day, after having admitted that, with an overwhelming
run of good-luck, there MIGHT be one chance of
success in a thousand, he pretended to yield entirely to
the doctor's wishes; but, in order to still put off the
journey, he opened the most varied series of subterfuges. He
threw himself back upon questioning the utility of the
expedition--its opportuneness, etc. This discovery of the
sources of the Nile, was it likely to be of any use?--Would
one have really labored for the welfare of humanity?--
When, after all, the African tribes should have been civilized,
would they be any happier?--Were folks certain
that civilization had not its chosen abode there rather
than in Europe?--Perhaps!--And then, couldn't one wait
a little longer?--The trip across Africa would certainly
be accomplished some day, and in a less hazardous manner.--
In another month, or in six months before the year
was over, some explorer would undoubtedly come in--etc., etc.

These hints produced an effect exactly opposite to
what was desired or intended, and the doctor trembled
with impatience.

"Are you willing, then, wretched Dick--are you willing,
false friend--that this glory should belong to another?
Must I then be untrue to my past history; recoil before
obstacles that are not serious; requite with cowardly
hesitation what both the English Government and the
Royal Society of London have done for me?"

"But," resumed Kennedy, who made great use of that
conjunction.

"But," said the doctor, "are you not aware that my
journey is to compete with the success of the expeditions
now on foot? Don't you know that fresh explorers are
advancing toward the centre of Africa?"

"Still--"

"Listen to me, Dick," and cast your eyes over that map."

Dick glanced over it, with resignation.

"Now, ascend the course of the Nile."

"I have ascended it," replied the Scotchman, with
docility.

"Stop at Gondokoro."

"I am there."

And Kennedy thought to himself how easy such a trip
was--on the map!

"Now, take one of the points of these dividers and let it rest
upon that place beyond which the most daring explorers have
scarcely gone."

"I have done so."

"And now look along the coast for the island of Zanzibar,
in latitude six degrees south."

"I have it."

"Now, follow the same parallel and arrive at Kazeh."

"I have done so."

"Run up again along the thirty-third degree of longitude
to the opening of Lake Oukereoue, at the point where
Lieutenant Speke had to halt."

"I am there; a little more, and I should have tumbled
into the lake."

"Very good! Now, do you know what we have the
right to suppose, according to the information given by
the tribes that live along its shores?"

"I haven't the least idea."

"Why, that this lake, the lower extremity of which is
in two degrees and thirty minutes, must extend also two
degrees and a half above the equator."

"Really!"

"Well from this northern extremity there flows a
stream which must necessarily join the Nile, if it be not
the Nile itself."

"That is, indeed, curious."

"Then, let the other point of your dividers rest upon
that extremity of Lake Oukereoue."

"It is done, friend Ferguson."

"Now, how many degrees can you count between the
two points?"

"Scarcely two."

"And do you know what that means, Dick?"

"Not the least in the world."

"Why, that makes scarcely one hundred and twenty
miles--in other words, a nothing."

"Almost nothing, Samuel."

"Well, do you know what is taking place at this moment?"

"No, upon my honor, I do not."

"Very well, then, I'll tell you. The Geographical Society
regard as very important the exploration of this lake
of which Speke caught a glimpse. Under their auspices,
Lieutenant (now Captain) Speke has associated with him
Captain Grant, of the army in India; they have put themselves
at the head of a numerous and well-equipped expedition;
their mission is to ascend the lake and return to
Gondokoro; they have received a subsidy of more than
five thousand pounds, and the Governor of the Cape of
Good Hope has placed Hottentot soldiers at their disposal;
they set out from Zanzibar at the close of October, 1860.
In the mean while John Petherick, the English consul at
the city of Karthoum, has received about seven hundred
pounds from the foreign office; he is to equip a steamer at
Karthoum, stock it with sufficient provisions, and make his
way to Gondokoro; there, he will await Captain Speke's
caravan, and be able to replenish its supplies to some extent."

"Well planned," said Kennedy.

"You can easily see, then, that time presses if we are
to take part in these exploring labors. And that is not
all, since, while some are thus advancing with sure steps
to the discovery of the sources of the Nile, others are
penetrating to the very heart of Africa."

"On foot?" said Kennedy.

"Yes, on foot," rejoined the doctor, without noticing
the insinuation. "Doctor Krapf proposes to push forward,
in the west, by way of the Djob, a river lying under the
equator. Baron de Decken has already set out from
Monbaz, has reconnoitred the mountains of Kenaia and
Kilimandjaro, and is now plunging in toward the centre."

"But all this time on foot?"

"On foot or on mules."

"Exactly the same, so far as I am concerned," ejaculated Kennedy.

"Lastly," resumed the doctor, "M. de Heuglin, the
Austrian vice-consul at Karthoum, has just organized a
very important expedition, the first aim of which is to
search for the traveller Vogel, who, in 1853, was sent into
the Soudan to associate himself with the labors of Dr.
Barth. In 1856, he quitted Bornou, and determined to
explore the unknown country that lies between Lake Tchad
and Darfur. Nothing has been seen of him since that
time. Letters that were received in Alexandria, in 1860,
said that he was killed at the order of the King of Wadai;
but other letters, addressed by Dr. Hartmann to the traveller's
father, relate that, according to the recital of a felatah
of Bornou, Vogel was merely held as a prisoner at
Wara. All hope is not then lost. Hence, a committee
has been organized under the presidency of the Regent of
Saxe-Cogurg-Gotha; my friend Petermann is its secretary;
a national subscription has provided for the expense
of the expedition, whose strength has been increased
by the voluntary accession of several learned men, and
M. de Heuglin set out from Massowah, in the month of
June. While engaged in looking for Vogel, he is also to
explore all the country between the Nile and Lake Tchad,
that is to say, to knit together the operations of Captain
Speke and those of Dr. Barth, and then Africa will have
been traversed from east to west."*

* After the departure of Dr. Ferguson, it was ascertained that
M. de Heuglin, owing to some disagreement, took a route different
from the one assigned to his expedition, the command of the latter
having been transferred to Mr. Muntzinger.

"Well," said the canny Scot, "since every thing is
getting on so well, what's the use of our going down there?"

Dr. Ferguson made no reply, but contented himself
with a significant shrug of the shoulders.

CHAPTER SIXTH.

A Servant--match him!--He can see the Satellites of Jupiter.--Dick
and Joe hard at it.--Doubt and Faith.--The Weighing Ceremony.--Joe
and Wellington.--He gets a Half-crown.

Dr. Ferguson had a servant who answered with alacrity to
the name of Joe. He was an excellent fellow, who testified
the most absolute confidence in his master, and the most
unlimited devotion to his interests, even anticipating
his wishes and orders, which were always intelligently
executed. In fine, he was a Caleb without the
growling, and a perfect pattern of constant good-humor.
Had he been made on purpose for the place, it could not
have been better done. Ferguson put himself entirely in
his hands, so far as the ordinary details of existence were
concerned, and he did well. Incomparable, whole-souled
Joe! a servant who orders your dinner; who likes what
you like; who packs your trunk, without forgetting your
socks or your linen; who has charge of your keys and your
secrets, and takes no advantage of all this!

But then, what a man the doctor was in the eyes of
this worthy Joe! With what respect and what confidence
the latter received all his decisions! When Ferguson had
spoken, he would be a fool who should attempt to question
the matter. Every thing he thought was exactly right;
every thing he said, the perfection of wisdom; every thing
he ordered to be done, quite feasible; all that he undertook,
practicable; all that he accomplished, admirable.
You might have cut Joe to pieces--not an agreeable
operation, to be sure--and yet he would not have altered
his opinion of his master.

So, when the doctor conceived the project of crossing
Africa through the air, for Joe the thing was already
done; obstacles no longer existed; from the moment when
the doctor had made up his mind to start, he had arrived
--along with his faithful attendant, too, for the noble
fellow knew, without a word uttered about it, that he would
be one of the party.

Moreover, he was just the man to render the greatest
service by his intelligence and his wonderful agility. Had
the occasion arisen to name a professor of gymnastics for
the monkeys in the Zoological Garden (who are smart
enough, by-the-way!), Joe would certainly have received
the appointment. Leaping, climbing, almost flying--
these were all sport to him.

If Ferguson was the head and Kennedy the arm, Joe
was to be the right hand of the expedition. He had,
already, accompanied his master on several journeys, and
had a smattering of science appropriate to his condition
and style of mind, but he was especially remarkable for a
sort of mild philosophy, a charming turn of optimism. In
his sight every thing was easy, logical, natural, and,
consequently, he could see no use in complaining or grumbling.

Among other gifts, he possessed a strength and range
of vision that were perfectly surprising. He enjoyed, in
common with Moestlin, Kepler's professor, the rare faculty
of distinguishing the satellites of Jupiter with the naked
eye, and of counting fourteen of the stars in the group of
Pleiades, the remotest of them being only of the ninth
magnitude. He presumed none the more for that; on the
contrary, he made his bow to you, at a distance, and when
occasion arose he bravely knew how to use his eyes.

With such profound faith as Joe felt in the doctor, it
is not to be wondered at that incessant discussions sprang
up between him and Kennedy, without any lack of respect
to the latter, however.

One doubted, the other believed; one had a prudent foresight,
the other blind confidence. The doctor, however, vibrated
between doubt and confidence; that is to say, he troubled
his head with neither one nor the other.

"Well, Mr. Kennedy," Joe would say.

"Well, my boy?"

"The moment's at hand. It seems that we are to sail
for the moon."

"You mean the Mountains of the Moon, which are not
quite so far off. But, never mind, one trip is just as
dangerous as the other!"

"Dangerous! What! with a man like Dr. Ferguson?"

"I don't want to spoil your illusions, my good Joe;
but this undertaking of his is nothing more nor less than
the act of a madman. He won't go, though!"

"He won't go, eh? Then you haven't seen his balloon
at Mitchell's factory in the Borough?"

"I'll take precious good care to keep away from it!"

"Well, you'll lose a fine sight, sir. What a splendid
thing it is! What a pretty shape! What a nice car!
How snug we'll feel in it!"

"Then you really think of going with your master?"

"I?" answered Joe, with an accent of profound conviction.
"Why, I'd go with him wherever he pleases!
Who ever heard of such a thing? Leave him to go off
alone, after we've been all over the world together! Who
would help him, when he was tired? Who would give
him a hand in climbing over the rocks? Who would
attend him when he was sick? No, Mr. Kennedy, Joe will
always stick to the doctor!"

"You're a fine fellow, Joe!"

"But, then, you're coming with us!"

"Oh! certainly," said Kennedy; "that is to say, I
will go with you up to the last moment, to prevent Samuel
even then from being guilty of such an act of folly! I
will follow him as far as Zanzibar, so as to stop him there,
if possible."

"You'll stop nothing at all, Mr. Kennedy, with all respect
to you, sir. My master is no hare-brained person;
he takes a long time to think over what he means to do,
and then, when he once gets started, the Evil One himself
couldn't make him give it up."

"Well, we'll see about that."

"Don't flatter yourself, sir--but then, the main thing
is, to have you with us. For a hunter like you, sir,
Africa's a great country. So, either way, you won't be
sorry for the trip."

"No, that's a fact, I shan't be sorry for it, if I can get
this crazy man to give up his scheme."

"By-the-way," said Joe, "you know that the weighing
comes off to-day."

"The weighing--what weighing?"

"Why, my master, and you, and I, are all to be
weighed to-day!"

"What! like horse-jockeys?"

"Yes, like jockeys. Only, never fear, you won't be
expected to make yourself lean, if you're found to be
heavy. You'll go as you are."

"Well, I can tell you, I am not going to let myself be
weighed," said Kennedy, firmly.

"But, sir, it seems that the doctor's machine requires it."

"Well, his machine will have to do without it."

"Humph! and suppose that it couldn't go up, then?"

"Egad! that's all I want!"

"Come! come, Mr. Kennedy! My master will be sending
for us directly."

"I shan't go."

"Oh! now, you won't vex the doctor in that way!"

"Aye! that I will."

"Well!" said Joe with a laugh, "you say that because
he's not here; but when he says to your face, 'Dick!'
(with all respect to you, sir,) 'Dick, I want to know
exactly how much you weigh,' you'll go, I warrant it."

"No, I will NOT go!"

At this moment the doctor entered his study, where
this discussion had been taking place; and, as he came
in, cast a glance at Kennedy, who did not feel altogether
at his ease.

"Dick," said the doctor, "come with Joe; I want to
know how much you both weigh."

"But--"

"You may keep your hat on. Come!" And Kennedy went.

They repaired in company to the workshop of the
Messrs. Mitchell, where one of those so-called "Roman"
scales was in readiness. It was necessary, by the way,
for the doctor to know the weight of his companions, so
as to fix the equilibrium of his balloon; so he made Dick
get up on the platform of the scales. The latter, without
making any resistance, said, in an undertone:

"Oh! well, that doesn't bind me to any thing."

"One hundred and fifty-three pounds," said the doctor,
noting it down on his tablets.

"Am I too heavy?"

"Why, no, Mr. Kennedy!" said Joe; "and then, you
know, I am light to make up for it."

So saying, Joe, with enthusiasm, took his place on the
scales, and very nearly upset them in his ready haste.
He struck the attitude of Wellington where he is made to
ape Achilles, at Hyde-Park entrance, and was superb in
it, without the shield.

"One hundred and twenty pounds," wrote the doctor.

"Ah! ha!" said Joe, with a smile of satisfaction
And why did he smile? He never could tell himself.

"It's my turn now," said Ferguson--and he put down
one hundred and thirty-five pounds to his own account.

"All three of us," said he, "do not weigh much more
than four hundred pounds."

"But, sir," said Joe, "if it was necessary for your
expedition, I could make myself thinner by twenty pounds,
by not eating so much."

"Useless, my boy!" replied the doctor. "You may
eat as much as you like, and here's half-a-crown to buy
you the ballast."

CHAPTER SEVENTH.

Geometrical Details.--Calculation of the Capacity of the Balloon.--The
Double Receptacle.--The Covering.--The Car.--The Mysterious Apparatus.
--The Provisions and Stores.--The Final Summing up.

Dr. Ferguson had long been engaged upon the details
of his expedition. It is easy to comprehend that the balloon
--that marvellous vehicle which was to convey him
through the air--was the constant object of his solicitude.

At the outset, in order not to give the balloon too
ponderous dimensions, he had decided to fill it with
hydrogen gas, which is fourteen and a half times lighter
than common air. The production of this gas is easy,
and it has given the greatest satisfaction hitherto in
aerostatic experiments.

The doctor, according to very accurate calculations,
found that, including the articles indispensable to his
journey and his apparatus, he should have to carry a weight
of 4,000 pounds; therefore he had to find out what would
be the ascensional force of a balloon capable of raising such
a weight, and, consequently, what would be its capacity.

A weight of four thousand pounds is represented by
a displacement of the air amounting to forty-four thousand
eight hundred and forty-seven cubic feet; or, in other
words, forty-four thousand eight hundred and forty-seven
cubic feet of air weigh about four thousand pounds.

By giving the balloon these cubic dimensions, and filling
it with hydrogen gas, instead of common air--the former
being fourteen and a half times lighter and weighing
therefore only two hundred and seventy-six pounds--a
difference of three thousand seven hundred and twenty-four
pounds in equilibrium is produced; and it is this
difference between the weight of the gas contained in the
balloon and the weight of the surrounding atmosphere
that constitutes the ascensional force of the former.

However, were the forty-four thousand eight hundred
and forty-seven cubic feet of gas of which we speak, all
introduced into the balloon, it would be entirely filled;
but that would not do, because, as the balloon continued
to mount into the more rarefied layers of the atmosphere,
the gas within would dilate, and soon burst the cover
containing it. Balloons, then, are usually only two-thirds
filled.

But the doctor, in carrying out a project known only
to himself, resolved to fill his balloon only one-half; and,
since he had to carry forty-four thousand eight hundred
and forty-seven cubic feet of gas, to give his balloon
nearly double capacity he arranged it in that elongated,
oval shape which has come to be preferred. The horizontal
diameter was fifty feet, and the vertical diameter
seventy-five feet. He thus obtained a spheroid, the
capacity of which amounted, in round numbers, to ninety
thousand cubic feet.

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