588 
EXTRAORDINARY BALLOON ASCENT. 
happened with the ordinary sling. Horse-boxes, however, 
have nearly, if not entirely, superseded the sling for this latter 
purpose. 
Thus caparisoned, the animal was mounted and ridden 
round the area, for exhibition to the public assembled, who 
had come, like myself, to Cremorne Gardens, out of motives 
of pure curiosity ,—to satisfy, in fact, the cravings of a depraved 
and morbid taste for such sights. Many persons expressed 
their disgust freely, at the time, at such an exhibition; whilst 
others applauded. The mare was then placed beneath the 
car of the balloon, and the ropes made secure to the loose 
straps and pullies, the rider being still on its back, (a man 
one day, a woman the other.)* The order being given to 
“ let go,” the mare and her rider ascended quickly into the 
ethereal realms, the pon} r struggling very much, while the 
rider, who had assumed a standing position on the saddle, 
commenced dancing a hornpipe. At this time, the abdominal 
viscera of the animal being compressed, not only by its own 
weight but by that of its rider as well, it must have endured 
great pain and suffering; indeed, that it actually did so, I 
shall presently prove to you, from the observations 1 made, 
I having had the singular opportunity of verifying my re¬ 
marks, by making an autopsy of the two-year old heifer, 
which was obliged to be destroyed, in consequence of illness 
and injuries received shortly after her first and last ascent 
and descent. The ponies, to my astonishment, alighted safe 
on terra Jirmd, after an hour’s suspension in the air, with, on 
one, but a slight abrasion, near the patella, from the chafing 
of the sling. 
These novelties were succeeded by a still greater one: — 
“ The Ascent of a Lady, Madame Poitevin, on a Living Bull !” 
representative of Europa and Jupiter. Europa made her entree 
into the arena, attired in crimson and white, in an ancient 
chariot, drawn by four horses abreast, receiving the plaudits of 
the assembled audience. Jupiter shortly after, very unwillingly, 
made his appearance ; compulsorily, however, for he was forced 
on the stage by a number of men, who were all the time brutally 
ill-treating him: the entrance of “The God of Thunder” 
being accompanied by a thundering peal of laughter. The 
c Era’ remarks, “ that the bull was a very duodecimo edition 
of the species, more like a Kerry cow than even a well-grown 
bull-calf. Madame Poitevin looked classically enough, as 
Europa; but the wildest sketch of imagination could not 
fancy Jupiter in the form of the miserable apology for an 
* M. and Madame Poitevin. 
