50 THE VOYAGE OF THE JEANNETTE. 



height above the vessel or its vicinity, he thought a captive 

 balloon might be useful if not too difficult to carry and inflate. 

 He did not think it would be of the shghtest service in sledg- 

 ing." 



In response to the inquiry made in Paris, a report 

 was obtained from the eminent French aeronaut, M. 

 Wilfrid de Fonvielle, as to the best manner of preparing 

 balloons for use in the Polar regions; and as a contribu- 

 tion to science, a translation of the report is printed in 

 AjDpendix A. 



The subject had first been broached by Lieutenant 

 De Long to Mr. Bennett, and upon receiving the above 

 he replied : "In writing to you on the subject of bal- 

 loons I did not intend to convey the impression that I 

 favored balloons as a means of getting to the Pole. 

 I believe in them for but one object, and that is to get 

 an increased height above a ship to command a larger 

 horizon. A favorable occasion may be waited for, and 

 one ascension may save many days' weary work in a 

 wrong direction." He wrote also to Mr. Samuel A. 

 King, the aeronaut : "' Will you be kind enough to take 

 into consideration the subject of an Arctic balloon ? I 

 desire, if possible, to employ a balloon (with a rope at- 

 taching it to the ship) for the purpose of commanding 

 a greater view in order to select water channels for my 

 vessel ; and to li^ve the lifting power applied to sledges 

 and their loads to lessen the difficulty of dragging them 

 over floes and hummocks." The result of inquiries is 

 contained in a subsequent letter from Lieutenant De 

 Long to Mr. Bennett : — 



" I have had a long and interesting interview with Professor 

 King, the ' balloonist,' and I am foi'ced to the conchision that 

 we cannot do anything with balloons in Arctic explorations. 

 To support a weight of one hundred and eighty pounds human 



