290 Journal of art Aerial Voyage. [Oct. 



more, it lay along on its side. We continued firm in our situa- 

 tions, without attempting to stir, until some persons, who were 

 working close by, in a field over which the balloon had passed in 

 its descent, came to our assistance. The l*alloon was soon se- 

 cured, and we were released from the possibility of any farther 

 bumping. The descent was considered by Mr. Sadler as being 

 particularly favourable ; though, to speak candidly, I formed a very 

 decided opinion -as to the uneasy situation of a descent, which Mr. 

 Sadler, after his long experience, would deem dangerous} for the 

 rapidity with which the car descended through the last 50 or 100 

 feet on this occasion, and the extraordinary sensation occasioned by 

 the first bound, which is not unlike the dislocating shock of a gal- 

 vanic buttery, very much exceeded my pre-conceivetl idea as to the 

 nature of a descent. The balloon grounded in a fine grasi mea- 

 dow, in the parish of East Thorpe, near Colchester, and was se- 

 cured by the assistance of the proprietor of the farm, Mr. Thomas 

 Ely, who was the first person that arrived to lend his friendly aid, 

 and to whose house we, together with our apparatus, proceeded. 



On questioning some of the country people who lent a hand in 

 securing the balloon, they told us that they had heard us calling 

 and cheering them as we passed over their heads ; and that they 

 had very distinctly seen the water that was emptied out of the bottle, 

 which appeal's bv the journal to have been about five minutes after 

 four. They described it as appearing like a stream of smoke or 

 vapour issuing from the car. 



Almost as soon as the balloon touched the ground, a man brought 

 the bottle of Champaigne unhurt, which had been thrown out by 

 Mr. Sadler at an elevation of full 1000 or 1500 feet. The man 

 said he picked it up in a ploughed field. The bottle was about 

 two thirds full, and loosely corked. One of the most remarkable 

 circumstances that I observed was, that the balloon, whether in 

 ascending or descending, provided the change in elevation was 

 effected with rapidity, invariably formed an umbrella over our 

 heads. The lower part, instead of hanging down, as might have 

 been supposed on a first view of the matter, was raised upwards, 

 and formed a concave circle ever our heads ; the convex side of the 

 arch corresponding with that of the crown of the balloon. This, on 

 reflection, seems to have been caused in both cases by the pressure 

 of the atmosphere. In the descent, the weight below the balloon 

 tended to compress the air against the lower side of the bag, and 

 thus the parachute was formed by the compression of the air, be- 

 cause it could not escape with sufficient ease by flowing over the 

 edges. In the ascent, on the contrary, it is probable that as the 

 upper side of the balloon displaced a much larger portion ot air than 

 the lower extremity, in proportion as the balloon when in the air 

 assumes nine times in ten a pear shape, and not a sphere, unless at 

 very considerable elevations, the air which has been so displaced by 

 the upper part of the balloon in ascending, rushes from all directions 

 10 re-occupy the space left in the wake of the bag, and therefore it 



