HISTORY OF THE BALLOON. 135 



of them saw, that at the moment when it passed the hedge, it made a half 

 turn, and we changed our positions, which, thus altered, we retained 

 to the end. I was astonished at the smallness of the noise or motion, 

 occasioned by our departure, among the spectators. I thought they 

 might be astonished or frightened, and might stand in need of encourage- 

 ment (pretty cool this), I waved my arm with little success; I then 

 drew out and shook my handkerchief, and immediately perceived a 

 great movement in the garden. It seemed as if the spectators all formed 

 one mass, which rushed, by an involuntary motion, towards the wall, 

 which it seemed to consider as the only obstacle between us. At this 

 moment M. de Rozier called out, " You are doing nothing, we do not 

 rise." I begged his pardon, took some straw, moved the fire, and turned 

 again quickly, but could not find La Muette. In astonishment I followed 

 the river with my eye, and at last found where the Oise joined it. Here 

 then was Conflans ; and naming the principal bends of the river by the 

 places nearest them, I repeated Poissy, St. Germain, St. Denis, Seve; 

 then I am still at Poissy or Chaillot. Accordingly looking down through 

 the car, I saw the Visitation de Chaillot. M. Pilatre said to me at this 

 moment, " here is the river, we are descending." " Well, my friend/'said I, 

 "more fire," and we set to work. But instead of crossing the river, as our 

 course towards the Invalides seemed to indicate, we went along the lie 

 des Cygnes, entered the principal bed again, and went up the stream, 

 till we were above the barrier La Conference. I said to my brave 

 associate, "Here is a river which is very difficult to cross." "I think 

 so," said he, " you are doing nothu g." " I am not so strong as you," I 

 answered, "and we are well as we are." I stirred the fire, and seized a 

 bundle of straw, which being too much pressed did not light well ; I 

 shook it over the flame, and the instant after I felt as if I had been seized 

 under the arms, and I said to my friend, " we are rising now, however." 

 " Yes, we are rising," he answered from the interior, where he had been 

 seeing that all was right. At this moment I heard a noise high up in the 

 balloon, which made me fear it had burst; I looked up but saw nothing; 

 but, as I had my eyes fixed on the machine, I felt a shock, the first I had 

 experienced. The shock was upwards, and I cried out," What are you 

 doing are you dancing?" "I am not stirring." "So much the 

 better," I said, " this must be a new current, which will, I hope, take us 

 oft' the river. Accordingly, I turned to see where we were, and found 

 myself between the Ecole Militaire and the Invalides, which we had 

 passed about four hundred toises. M. Pelatre said, "We are in the 

 plain." "Yes," I said, " we are getting on." I heard a new noise in 



