NAVIGATING THE AIR 



mere cockle-shells as compared with the German monster. 

 The young inventor had come to Paris from his home 

 in South America backed by an immense fortune, and 

 by a fund of enthusiasm, courage, and determination 

 unsurpassed by any aerial experimenter in any age. He 

 began at once experimenting with balloons of different 

 shapes, with screws and paddles, and, perhaps most 

 important of all, with the new, light petroleum-motors 

 just then being introduced for use on automobiles, 

 electricity not having proved a success in aerial experi- 

 ments. 



His first balloon. No. /, built in 1898, was devoid of 

 any particularly novel features. His No. 2 showed 

 some advancement, and his No. j, while a decided im- 

 provement, still came far short of answering the require- 

 ments of a dirigible balloon. But the young experi- 

 menter was learning and profiting by his failures — and, 

 incidentally, was having hairbreadth escapes from death, 

 meeting with many accidents, and being severely in- 

 jured on occasion. 



About this time a prize of one hundred thousand 

 francs was offered by M. Deutsch to the aeronaut who 

 should ascend from a specified place in a park in Paris, 

 make the circuit of the Eiffel Tower, and return to the 

 starting-point within half an hour. With the honor of 

 capturing this prize as an additional incentive, Santos- 

 Dumont began the construction of his fourth balloon, 

 the Santos-Dunumt No. 4. In this balloon everything 

 but bare essentials was sacrificed to lightness, even the 

 car being done away with, the aeronaut controlling the 

 machinery and directing the movements of the bal- 



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