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FIVE WEEKS IN A BALLOON;
OR,
JOURNEYS AND DISCOVERIES IN AFRICA
BY THREE ENGLISHMEN.
COMPILED IN FRENCH
BY JULES VERNE,
FROM THE ORIGINAL NOTES OF DR. FERGUSON.
AND DONE INTO ENGLISH BY
"WILLIAM LACKLAND."
PUBLISHERS' NOTE.
"Five Weeks in a Balloon" is, in a measure, a satire on
modern books of African travel. So far as the geography,
the inhabitants, the animals, and the features of the countries
the travellers pass over are described, it is entirely
accurate. It gives, in some particulars, a survey of nearly
the whole field of African discovery, and in this way will
often serve to refresh the memory of the reader. The mode
of locomotion is, of course, purely imaginary, and the incidents
and adventures fictitious. The latter are abundantly
amusing, and, in view of the wonderful "travellers' tales"
with which we have been entertained by African explorers,
they can scarcely be considered extravagant; while the ingenuity
and invention of the author will be sure to excite the
surprise and the admiration of the reader, who will find
M. VERNE as much at home in voyaging through the air as in
journeying "Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Seas."
CONTENTS.
- - -
CHAPTER FIRST.
The End of a much-applauded Speech. - The Presentation of Dr. Samuel Ferguson.
- Excelsior. - Full-length Portrait of the Doctor. - A Fatalist convinced.
- A Dinner at the Travellers' Club. - Several Toasts for the Occasion
CHAPTER SECOND.
The Article in the Daily Telegraph. - War between the Scientific Journals. -
Mr. Petermann backs his Friend Dr. Ferguson. - Reply of the Savant Koner.
- Bets made. - Sundry Propositions offered to the Doctor
CHAPTER THIRD.
The Doctor's Friend. - The Origin of their Friendship. - Dick Kennedy at London.
- An unexpected but not very consoling Proposal. - A Proverb by no
means cheering. - A few Names from the African Martyrology. - The Advantages
of a Balloon. - Dr. Ferguson's Secret
CHAPTER FOURTH.
African Explorations. - Barth, Richardson, Overweg, Werne, Brun-Rollet, Penney,
Andrea, Debono, Miani, Guillaume Lejean, Brace, Krapf and Rebmann,
Maizan, Roscher, Burton and Speke
CHAPTER FIFTH.
Kennedy's Dreams. - Articles and Pronouns in the Plural. - Dick's Insinuations.
- A Promenade over the Map of Africa. - What is contained between two
Points of the Compass. - Expeditions now on foot. - Speke and Grant. - Krapf,
De Decken, and De Heuglin
CHAPTER SIXTH.
A Servant - match him! - He can see the Satellites of Jupiter. - Dick and Joe
hard at it. - Doubt and Faith. - The Weighing Ceremony. - Joe and Wellington.
- He gets a Half-crown
CHAPTER SEVENTH.
Geometrical Details. - Calculation of the Capacity of the Balloon. - The Double
Receptacle. - The Covering. - The Car. - The Mysterious Apparatus. - The
Provisions and Stores. - The Final Summing up
CHAPTER EIGHTH.
Joe's Importance. - The Commander of the Resolute. - Kennedy's Arsenal.
- Mutual Amenities. - The Farewell Dinner. - Departure on the 21st of February. -
The Doctor's Scientific Sessions. - Duveyrier. - Livingstone. - Details of the
Aerial Voyage. - Kennedy silenced
CHAPTER NINTH.
They double the Cape. - The Forecastle. - A Course of Cosmography by Professor
Joe. - Concerning the Method of guiding Balloons. - How to seek out
Atmospheric Currents. - Eureka
CHAPTER TENTH.
Former Experiments. - The Doctor's Five Receptacles. - The Gas Cylinder. -
The Calorifere. - The System of Manoeuvring. - Success certain
CHAPTER ELEVENTH.
The Arrival at Zanzibar. - The English Consul. - Ill-will of the Inhabitants. - The
Island of Koumbeni. - The Rain-Makers. - Inflation of the Balloon. - Departure
on the 18th of April. - The last Good-by. - The Victoria
CHAPTER TWELFTH.
Crossing the Strait. - The Mrima. - Dick's Remark and Joe's Proposition. - A
Recipe for Coffee-making. - The Uzaramo. - The Unfortunate Maizan. -
Mount Duthumi. - The Doctor's Cards. - Night under a Nopal
CHAPTER THIRTEENTH.
Change of Weather. - Kennedy has the Fever. - The Doctor's Medicine. - Travels
on Land. - The Basin of Imenge. - Mount Rubeho. - Six Thousand Feet
Elevation. - A Halt in the Daytime
CHAPTER FOURTEENTH.
The Forest of Gum-Trees. - The Blue Antelope. - The Rallying-Signal. - An
Unexpected Attack. - The Kanyeme. - A Night in the Open Air. - The
Mabunguru. - Jihoue-la-Mkoa. - A Supply of Water. - Arrival at Kazeh
CHAPTER FIFTEENTH.
Kazeh. - The Noisy Market-place. - The Appearance of the Balloon. - The Wangaga.
- The Sons of the Moon. - The Doctor's Walk. - The Population of the
Place. - The Royal Tembe. - The Sultan's Wives. - A Royal Drunken-Bout. -
Joe an Object of Worship. - How they Dance in the Moon. - A Reaction. -
Two Moons in one Sky. - The Instability of Divine Honors
CHAPTER SIXTEENTH.
Symptoms of a Storm. - The Country of the Moon. - The Future of the African
Continent. - The Last Machine of all. - A View of the Country at Sunset. -
Flora and Fauna. - The Tempest. - The Zone of Fire. - The Starry Heavens.
CHAPTER SEVENTEENTH.
The Mountains of the Moon. - An Ocean of Venture. - They cast Anchor. - The
Towing Elephant. - A Running Fire. - Death of the Monster. - The Field
Oven. - A Meal on the Grass. - A Night on the Ground
CHAPTER EIGHTEENTH.
The Karagwah. - Lake Ukereoue. - A Night on an Island. - The Equator.
- Crossing the Lake. - The Cascades. - A View of the Country. - The Sources
of the Nile. - The Island of Benga. - The Signature of Andrea Debono. - The
Flag with the Arms of England
CHAPTER NINETEENTH.
The Nile. - The Trembling Mountain. - A Remembrance of the Country. - The
Narratives of the Arabs. - The Nyam-Nyams. - Joe's Shrewd Cogitations. -
The Balloon runs the Gantlet. - Aerostatic Ascensions. - Madame Blanchard.
CHAPTER TWENTIETH.
The Celestial Bottle. - The Fig-Palms. - The Mammoth Trees. - The Tree of War.
- The Winged Team. - Two Native Tribes in Battle. - A Massacre. - An
Intervention from above
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIRST.
Strange Sounds. - A Night Attack. - Kennedy and Joe in the Tree. - Two Shots.
- "Help! help!" - Reply in French. - The Morning. - The Missionary. - The
Plan of Rescue
CHAPTER TWENTY-SECOND.
The Jet of Light. - The Missionary. - The Rescue in a Ray of Electricity. - A
Lazarist Priest. - But little Hope. - The Doctor's Care. - A Life of Self-Denial.
- Passing a Volcano
CHAPTER TWENTY-THIRD.
Joe in a Fit of Rage. - The Death of a Good Man. - The Night of watching by the
Body. - Barrenness and Drought. - The Burial. - The Quartz Rocks. - Joe's
Hallucinations. - A Precious Ballast. - A Survey of the Gold-bearing Mountains.
- The Beginning of Joe's Despair
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOURTH.
The Wind dies away. - The Vicinity of the Desert. - The Mistake in the
WaterSupply. - The Nights of the Equator. - Dr. Ferguson's Anxieties.
- The Situation flatly stated. - Energetic Replies of Kennedy and Joe.
- One Night more
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIFTH.
A Little Philosophy. - A Cloud on the Horizon. - In the Midst of a Fog. - The
Strange Balloon. - An Exact View of the Victoria. - The Palm-Trees. - Traces
of a Caravan. - The Well in the Midst of the Desert
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIXTH.
One Hundred and Thirteen Degrees. - The Doctor's Reflections. - A Desperate
Search. - The Cylinder goes out. - One Hundred and Twenty-two Degrees. -
Contemplation of the Desert. - A Night Walk. - Solitude. - Debility. - Joe's
Prospects. - He gives himself One Day more
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVENTH.
Terrific Heat. - Hallucinations. - The Last Drops of Water. - Nights of Despair.
- An Attempt at Suicide. - The Simoom. - The Oasis. - The Lion and Lioness.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHTH.
An Evening of Delight. - Joe's Culinary Performances. - A Dissertation on Raw
Meat. - The Narrative of James Bruce. - Camping out. - Joe's Dreams. - The
Barometer begins to fall. - The Barometer rises again. - Preparations for
Departure. - The Tempest
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINTH.
Signs of Vegetation. - The Fantastic Notion of a French Author. - A Magnificent
Country. - The Kingdom of Adamova. - The Explorations of Speke and Burton
connected with those of Dr. Barth. - The Atlantika Mountains. - The
River Benoue. - The City of Yola. - The Bagele. - Mount Mendif
CHAPTER THIRTIETH.
Mosfeia. - The Sheik. - Denham, Clapperton, and Oudney. - Vogel. - The Capital
of Loggoum. - Toole. - Becalmed above Kernak. - The Governor and his Court.
- The Attack. - The Incendiary Pigeons
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIRST.
Departure in the Night-time. - All Three. - Kennedy's Instincts. - Precautions. -
The Course of the Shari River. - Lake Tchad. - The Water of the Lake. - The
Hippopotamus. - One Bullet thrown away
CHAPTER THIRTY-SECOND.
The Capital of Bornou. - The Islands of the Biddiomahs. - The Condors. - The
Doctor's Anxieties. - His Precautions. - An Attack in Mid-air. - The Balloon
Covering torn. - The Fall. - Sublime Self-Sacrifice. - The Northern Coast of
the Lake
CHAPTER THIRTY-THIRD.
Conjectures. - Reestablishment of the Victoria's Equilibrium. - Dr.
Ferguson's New Calculations. - Kennedy's Hunt. - A Complete Exploration
of Lake Tchad. - Tangalia. - The Return. - Lari
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOURTH.
The Hurricane. - A Forced Departure. - Loss of an Anchor. - Melancholy
Reflections. - The Resolution adopted. - The Sand-Storm. - The Buried Caravan. -
A Contrary yet Favorable Wind. - The Return southward. - Kennedy at his Post
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIFTH.
What happened to Joe. - The Island of the Biddiomahs. - The Adoration shown
him. - The Island that sank. - The Shores of the Lake. - The Tree of the
Serpents. - The Foot-Tramp. - Terrible Suffering. - Mosquitoes and Ants. -
Hunger. - The Victoria seen. - She disappears. - The Swamp. - One Last
Despairing Cry
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIXTH.
A Throng of People on the Horizon. - A Troop of Arabs. - The Pursuit. - It is
He. - Fall from Horseback. - The Strangled Arab. - A Ball from Kennedy. -
Adroit Manoeuvres. - Caught up flying. - Joe saved at last
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVENTH.
The Western Route. - Joe wakes up. - His Obstinacy. - End of Joe's Narrative.
- Tagelei. - Kennedy's Anxieties. - The Route to the North. - A Night near
Aghades
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHTH.
A Rapid Passage. - Prudent Resolves. - Caravans in Sight. - Incessant Rains. -
Goa. - The Niger. - Golberry, Geoffroy, and Gray. - Mungo Park. - Laing. -
Rene Caillie. - Clapperton. - John and Richard Lander
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINTH.
The Country in the Elbow of the Niger. - A Fantastic View of the Hombori
Mountains. - Kabra. - Timbuctoo. - The Chart of Dr. Barth. - A Decaying City. -
Whither Heaven wills
CHAPTER FORTIETH.
Dr. Ferguson's Anxieties. - Persistent Movement southward. - A Cloud of
Grasshoppers. - A View of Jenne. - A View of Sego. - Change of the Wind. -
Joe's Regrets
CHAPTER FORTY-FIRST.
The Approaches to Senegal. - The Balloon sinks lower and lower. - They
keep throwing out, throwing out. - The Marabout Al-Hadji. - Messrs. Pascal,
Vincent, and Lambert. - A Rival of Mohammed. - The Difficult Mountains.
- Kennedy's Weapons. - One of Joe's Manoeuvres. - A Halt over a Forest
CHAPTER FORTY-SECOND.
A Struggle of Generosity. - The Last Sacrifice. - The Dilating Apparatus. - Joe's
Adroitness. - Midnight. - The Doctor's Watch. - Kennedy's Watch. - The Latter
falls asleep at his Post. - The Fire. - The Howlings of the Natives. - Out
of Range
CHAPTER FORTY-THIRD.
The Talabas. - The Pursuit. - A Devastated Country. - The Wind begins to
fall. - The Victoria sinks. - The last of the Provisions. - The Leaps of
the Balloon. - A Defence with Fire-arms. - The Wind freshens. - The Senegal
River. - The Cataracts of Gouina. - The Hot Air. - The Passage of the River
CHAPTER FORTY-FOURTH.
Conclusion. - The Certificate. - The French Settlements. - The Post of Medina. -
The Battle. - Saint Louis. - The English Frigate. - The Return to London.
FIVE WEEKS IN A BALLOON.
- - -
CHAPTER FIRST.
The End of a much-applauded Speech. - The Presentation of Dr. Samuel
Ferguson. - Excelsior. - Full-length Portrait of the Doctor. - A Fatalist
convinced. - A Dinner at the Travellers' Club. - Several Toasts for the
Occasion.
There was a large audience assembled on the 14th of
January, 1862, at the session of the Royal Geographical
Society, No. 3 Waterloo Place, London. The president,
Sir Francis M - - , made an important communication to
his colleagues, in an address that was frequently
interrupted by applause.
This rare specimen of eloquence terminated with the
following sonorous phrases bubbling over with patriotism:
"England has always marched at the head of nations"
(for, the reader will observe, the nations always march
at the head of each other), "by the intrepidity of her
explorers in the line of geographical discovery." (General
assent). "Dr. Samuel Ferguson, one of her most glorious
sons, will not reflect discredit on his origin." ("No,
indeed!" from all parts of the hall.)
"This attempt, should it succeed" ("It will succeed!"),
"will complete and link together the notions, as yet
disjointed, which the world entertains of African cartology"
(vehement applause); "and, should it fail, it will,
at least, remain on record as one of the most daring
conceptions of human genius!" (Tremendous cheering.)
"Huzza! huzza!" shouted the immense audience,
completely electrified by these inspiring words.
"Huzza for the intrepid Ferguson!" cried one of the
most excitable of the enthusiastic crowd.
The wildest cheering resounded on all sides; the name
of Ferguson was in every mouth, and we may safely believe
that it lost nothing in passing through English
throats. Indeed, the hall fairly shook with it.
And there were present, also, those fearless travellers
and explorers whose energetic temperaments had borne
them through every quarter of the globe, many of them
grown old and worn out in the service of science. All
had, in some degree, physically or morally, undergone the
sorest trials. They had escaped shipwreck; conflagration;
Indian tomahawks and war-clubs; the fagot and the
stake; nay, even the cannibal maws of the South Sea
Islanders. But still their hearts beat high during Sir
Francis M - - 's address, which certainly was the finest
oratorical success that the Royal Geographical Society of
London had yet achieved.
But, in England, enthusiasm does not stop short with
mere words. It strikes off money faster than the dies of
the Royal Mint itself. So a subscription to encourage Dr.
Ferguson was voted there and then, and it at once attained
the handsome amount of two thousand five hundred
pounds. The sum was made commensurate with the
importance of the enterprise.
A member of the Society then inquired of the president
whether Dr. Ferguson was not to be officially introduced.
"The doctor is at the disposition of the meeting,"
replied Sir Francis.
"Let him come in, then! Bring him in!" shouted the
audience. "We'd like to see a man of such extraordinary
daring, face to face!"
"Perhaps this incredible proposition of his is only
intended to mystify us," growled an apoplectic old
admiral.
"Suppose that there should turn out to be no such
person as Dr. Ferguson?" exclaimed another voice, with
a malicious twang.
"Why, then, we'd have to invent one!" replied a
facetious member of this grave Society.
"Ask Dr. Ferguson to come in," was the quiet remark
of Sir Francis M - - .
And come in the doctor did, and stood there, quite
unmoved by the thunders of applause that greeted his
appearance.
He was a man of about forty years of age, of medium
height and physique. His sanguine temperament was
disclosed in the deep color of his cheeks. His countenance
was coldly expressive, with regular features, and a large
nose - one of those noses that resemble the prow of a ship,
and stamp the faces of men predestined to accomplish
great discoveries. His eyes, which were gentle and
intelligent, rather than bold, lent a peculiar charm to
his physiognomy. His arms were long, and his feet were
planted with that solidity which indicates a great pedestrian.
A calm gravity seemed to surround the doctor's entire
person, and no one would dream that he could become the
agent of any mystification, however harmless.
Hence, the applause that greeted him at the outset
continued until he, with a friendly gesture, claimed silence
on his own behalf. He stepped toward the seat that had
been prepared for him on his presentation, and then,
standing erect and motionless, he, with a determined
glance, pointed his right forefinger upward, and
pronounced aloud the single word -
"Excelsior!"
Never had one of Bright's or Cobden's sudden onslaughts,
never had one of Palmerston's abrupt demands
for funds to plate the rocks of the English coast with iron,
made such a sensation. Sir Francis M - - 's address was
completely overshadowed. The doctor had shown himself
moderate, sublime, and self-contained, in one; he had
uttered the word of the situation -
"Excelsior!"
The gouty old admiral who had been finding fault, was
completely won over by the singular man before him, and
immediately moved the insertion of Dr. Ferguson's speech
in "The Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society
of London."
Who, then, was this person, and what was the enterprise
that he proposed?
Ferguson's father, a brave and worthy captain in the
English Navy, had associated his son with him, from the
young man's earliest years, in the perils and adventures of
his profession. The fine little fellow, who seemed to have
never known the meaning of fear, early revealed a keen
and active mind, an investigating intelligence, and a
remarkable turn for scientific study; moreover, he disclosed
uncommon address in extricating himself from difficulty;
he was never perplexed, not even in handling his fork for
the first time - an exercise in which children generally
have so little success.
His fancy kindled early at the recitals he read of daring
enterprise and maritime adventure, and he followed
with enthusiasm the discoveries that signalized the first part
of the nineteenth century. He mused over the glory of the
Mungo Parks, the Bruces, the Caillies, the Levaillants,
and to some extent, I verily believe, of Selkirk (Robinson
Crusoe), whom he considered in no wise inferior to the
rest. How many a well-employed hour he passed with
that hero on his isle of Juan Fernandez! Often he criticised
the ideas of the shipwrecked sailor, and sometimes
discussed his plans and projects. He would have done
differently, in such and such a case, or quite as well at
least - of that he felt assured. But of one thing he was
satisfied, that he never should have left that pleasant island,
where he was as happy as a king without subjects -
no, not if the inducement held out had been promotion to
the first lordship in the admiralty!
It may readily be conjectured whether these tendencies
were developed during a youth of adventure, spent in
every nook and corner of the Globe. Moreover, his father,
who was a man of thorough instruction, omitted no opportunity
to consolidate this keen intelligence by serious
studies in hydrography, physics, and mechanics, along
with a slight tincture of botany, medicine, and astronomy.
Upon the death of the estimable captain, Samuel Ferguson,
then twenty-two years of age, had already made
his voyage around the world. He had enlisted in the
Bengalese Corps of Engineers, and distinguished himself
in several affairs; but this soldier's life had not exactly
suited him; caring but little for command, he had not been
fond of obeying. He, therefore, sent in his resignation,
and half botanizing, half playing the hunter, he made his
way toward the north of the Indian Peninsula, and crossed
it from Calcutta to Surat - a mere amateur trip for him.
From Surat we see him going over to Australia, and
in 1845 participating in Captain Sturt's expedition, which
had been sent out to explore the new Caspian Sea, supposed
to exist in the centre of New Holland.
Samuel Ferguson returned to England about 1850,
and, more than ever possessed by the demon of discovery,
he spent the intervening time, until 1853, in accompanying
Captain McClure on the expedition that went around
the American Continent from Behring's Straits to Cape
Farewell.
Notwithstanding fatigues of every description, and in
all climates, Ferguson's constitution continued marvellously
sound. He felt at ease in the midst of the most complete
privations; in fine, he was the very type of the
thoroughly accomplished explorer whose stomach expands
or contracts at will; whose limbs grow longer or shorter
according to the resting-place that each stage of a journey
may bring; who can fall asleep at any hour of the day or
awake at any hour of the night.
Nothing, then, was less surprising, after that, than to
find our traveller, in the period from 1855 to 1857, visiting
the whole region west of the Thibet, in company with the
brothers Schlagintweit, and bringing back some curious
ethnographic observations from that expedition.
During these different journeys, Ferguson had been
the most active and interesting correspondent of the
Daily Telegraph, the penny newspaper whose circulation
amounts to 140,000 copies, and yet scarcely suffices for its
many legions of readers. Thus, the doctor had become
well known to the public, although he could not claim
membership in either of the Royal Geographical Societies
of London, Paris, Berlin, Vienna, or St. Petersburg, or
yet with the Travellers' Club, or even the Royal Polytechnic
Institute, where his friend the statistician Cockburn
ruled in state.
The latter savant had, one day, gone so far as to propose
to him the following problem: Given the number of
miles travelled by the doctor in making the circuit of the
Globe, how many more had his head described than his
feet, by reason of the different lengths of the radii? - or,
the number of miles traversed by the doctor's head and
feet respectively being given, required the exact height
of that gentleman?
This was done with the idea of complimenting him,
but the doctor had held himself aloof from all the learned
bodies - belonging, as he did, to the church militant and
not to the church polemical. He found his time better
employed in seeking than in discussing, in discovering
rather than discoursing.
There is a story told of an Englishman who came one
day to Geneva, intending to visit the lake. He was placed
in one of those odd vehicles in which the passengers sit
side by side, as they do in an omnibus. Well, it so happened
that the Englishman got a seat that left him with
his back turned toward the lake. The vehicle completed
its circular trip without his thinking to turn around once,
and he went back to London delighted with the Lake of Geneva.
Doctor Ferguson, however, had turned around to look
about him on his journeyings, and turned to such good
purpose that he had seen a great deal. In doing so, he
had simply obeyed the laws of his nature, and we have
good reason to believe that he was, to some extent, a fatalist,
but of an orthodox school of fatalism withal, that led
him to rely upon himself and even upon Providence. He
claimed that he was impelled, rather than drawn by his
own volition, to journey as he did, and that he traversed
the world like the locomotive, which does not direct itself,
but is guided and directed by the track it runs on.
"I do not follow my route;" he often said, "it is my
route that follows me."
The reader will not be surprised, then, at the calmness
with which the doctor received the applause that welcomed
him in the Royal Society. He was above all such
trifles, having no pride, and less vanity. He looked upon
the proposition addressed to him by Sir Francis M - - as
the simplest thing in the world, and scarcely noticed the
immense effect that it produced.
When the session closed, the doctor was escorted to
the rooms of the Travellers' Club, in Pall Mall. A superb
entertainment had been prepared there in his honor. The
dimensions of the dishes served were made to correspond
with the importance of the personage entertained, and the
boiled sturgeon that figured at this magnificent repast was
not an inch shorter than Dr. Ferguson himself.
Numerous toasts were offered and quaffed, in the wines
of France, to the celebrated travellers who had made their
names illustrious by their explorations of African territory.
The guests drank to their health or to their memory,
in alphabetical order, a good old English way of doing the
thing. Among those remembered thus, were: Abbadie,
Adams, Adamson, Anderson, Arnaud, Baikie, Baldwin,
Barth, Batouda, Beke, Beltram, Du Berba, Bimbachi,
Bolognesi, Bolwik, Belzoni, Bonnemain, Brisson, Browne,
Bruce, Brun-Rollet, Burchell, Burckhardt, Burton, Cailland,
Caillie, Campbell, Chapman, Clapperton, Clot-Bey,
Colomieu, Courval, Cumming, Cuny, Debono, Decken,
Denham, Desavanchers, Dicksen, Dickson, Dochard, Du
Chaillu, Duncan, Durand, Duroule, Duveyrier, D'Escayrac,
De Lauture, Erhardt, Ferret, Fresnel, Galinier, Galton,
Geoffroy, Golberry, Hahn, Halm, Harnier, Hecquart,
Heuglin, Hornemann, Houghton, Imbert, Kauffmann,
Knoblecher, Krapf, Kummer, Lafargue, Laing, Lafaille,
Lambert, Lamiral, Lampriere, John Lander, Richard
Lander, Lefebvre, Lejean, Levaillant, Livingstone, MacCarthy,
Maggiar, Maizan, Malzac, Moffat, Mollien, Monteiro, Morrison,
Mungo Park, Neimans, Overweg, Panet, Partarrieau,
Pascal, Pearse, Peddie, Penney, Petherick, Poncet, Prax,
Raffenel, Rabh, Rebmann, Richardson, Riley, Ritchey,
Rochet d'Hericourt, Rongawi, Roscher, Ruppel, Saugnier,
Speke, Steidner, Thibaud, Thompson, Thornton, Toole,
Tousny, Trotter, Tuckey, Tyrwhitt, Vaudey, Veyssiere,
Vincent, Vinco, Vogel, Wahlberg, Warrington, Washington,
Werne, Wild, and last, but not least, Dr. Ferguson,
who, by his incredible attempt, was to link together the
achievements of all these explorers, and complete the series
of African discovery.
CHAPTER SECOND.
The Article in the Daily Telegraph. - War between the Scientific Journals. -
Mr. Petermann backs his Friend Dr. Ferguson. - Reply of the Savant Koner.
- Bets made. - Sundry Propositions offered to the Doctor.
On the next day, in its number of January 15th, the Daily
Telegraph published an article couched in the following terms:
"Africa is, at length, about to surrender the secret
of her vast solitudes; a modern OEdipus is to give us the
key to that enigma which the learned men of sixty centuries
have not been able to decipher. In other days, to seek the
sources of the Nile - fontes Nili quoerere - was regarded as
a mad endeavor, a chimera that could not be realized.
"Dr. Barth, in following out to Soudan the track traced
by Denham and Clapperton; Dr. Livingstone, in multiplying
his fearless explorations from the Cape of Good Hope
to the basin of the Zambesi; Captains Burton and Speke,
in the discovery of the great interior lakes, have opened
three highways to modern civilization. THEIR POINT OF
INTERSECTION, which no traveller has yet been able to
reach, is the very heart of Africa, and it is thither
that all efforts should now be directed.
"The labors of these hardy pioneers of science are now
about to be knit together by the daring project of Dr.
Samuel Ferguson, whose fine explorations our readers
have frequently had the opportunity of appreciating.
"This intrepid discoverer proposes to traverse all
Africa from east to west IN A BALLOON. If we are well
informed, the point of departure for this surprising journey
is to be the island of Zanzibar, upon the eastern coast.
As for the point of arrival, it is reserved for Providence
alone to designate.
"The proposal for this scientific undertaking was officially
made, yesterday, at the rooms of the Royal Geographical
Society, and the sum of twenty-five hundred pounds was
voted to defray the expenses of the enterprise.
"We shall keep our readers informed as to the progress
of this enterprise, which has no precedent in the annals
of exploration."
As may be supposed, the foregoing article had an
enormous echo among scientific people. At first, it stirred
up a storm of incredulity; Dr. Ferguson passed for a
purely chimerical personage of the Barnum stamp, who,
after having gone through the United States, proposed to
"do" the British Isles.
A humorous reply appeared in the February number
of the Bulletins de la Societe Geographique of Geneva,
which very wittily showed up the Royal Society of London
and their phenomenal sturgeon.
But Herr Petermann, in his Mittheilungen, published
at Gotha, reduced the Geneva journal to the most absolute
silence. Herr Petermann knew Dr. Ferguson personally,
and guaranteed the intrepidity of his dauntless friend.
Besides, all manner of doubt was quickly put out of
the question: preparations for the trip were set on foot at
London; the factories of Lyons received a heavy order for
the silk required for the body of the balloon; and, finally,
the British Government placed the transport-ship Resolute,
Captain Bennett, at the disposal of the expedition.
At once, upon word of all this, a thousand encouragements
were offered, and felicitations came pouring in from
all quarters. The details of the undertaking were published
in full in the bulletins of the Geographical Society
of Paris; a remarkable article appeared in the Nouvelles
Annales des Voyages, de la Geographie, de l'Histoire, et
de l'Archaeologie de M. V. A. Malte-Brun ("New Annals
of Travels, Geography, History, and Archaeology, by
M. V. A. Malte-Brun"); and a searching essay in the Zeitschrift
fur Allgemeine Erdkunde, by Dr. W. Koner, triumphantly
demonstrated the feasibility of the journey, its
chances of success, the nature of the obstacles existing,
the immense advantages of the aerial mode of locomotion,
and found fault with nothing but the selected point of
departure, which it contended should be Massowah, a small
port in Abyssinia, whence James Bruce, in 1768, started
upon his explorations in search of the sources of the Nile.
Apart from that, it mentioned, in terms of unreserved
admiration, the energetic character of Dr. Ferguson, and the
heart, thrice panoplied in bronze, that could conceive and
undertake such an enterprise.
The North American Review could not, without some
displeasure, contemplate so much glory monopolized by
England. It therefore rather ridiculed the doctor's scheme,
and urged him, by all means, to push his explorations as
far as America, while he was about it.
In a word, without going over all the journals in the
world, there was not a scientific publication, from the
Journal of Evangelical Missions to the Revue Algerienne
et Coloniale, from the Annales de la Propagation de la
Foi to the Church Missionary Intelligencer, that had not
something to say about the affair in all its phases.
Many large bets were made at London and throughout
England generally, first, as to the real or supposititious
existence of Dr. Ferguson; secondly, as to the trip itself,
which, some contended, would not be undertaken at all,
and which was really contemplated, according to others;
thirdly, upon the success or failure of the enterprise; and
fourthly, upon the probabilities of Dr. Ferguson's return.
The betting-books were covered with entries of immense
sums, as though the Epsom races were at stake.
Thus, believers and unbelievers, the learned and the
ignorant, alike had their eyes fixed on the doctor, and he
became the lion of the day, without knowing that he carried
such a mane. On his part, he willingly gave the
most accurate information touching his project. He was
very easily approached, being naturally the most affable
man in the world. More than one bold adventurer presented
himself, offering to share the dangers as well as the
glory of the undertaking; but he refused them all, without
giving his reasons for rejecting them.
Numerous inventors of mechanism applicable to the
guidance of balloons came to propose their systems, but
he would accept none; and, when he was asked whether
he had discovered something of his own for that purpose,
he constantly refused to give any explanation, and merely
busied himself more actively than ever with the preparations
for his journey.
CHAPTER THIRD.
The Doctor's Friend. - The Origin of their Friendship. - Dick Kennedy
at London. - An unexpected but not very consoling Proposal. - A Proverb
by no means cheering. - A few Names from the African Martyrology. - The
Advantages of a Balloon. - Dr. Ferguson's Secret.
Dr. Ferguson had a friend - not another self, indeed,
an alter ego, for friendship could not exist between two
beings exactly alike.
But, if they possessed different qualities, aptitudes, and
temperaments, Dick Kennedy and Samuel Ferguson lived
with one and the same heart, and that gave them no great
trouble. In fact, quite the reverse.
Dick Kennedy was a Scotchman, in the full acceptation
of the word - open, resolute, and headstrong. He lived
in the town of Leith, which is near Edinburgh, and, in
truth, is a mere suburb of Auld Reekie. Sometimes he
was a fisherman, but he was always and everywhere a
determined hunter, and that was nothing remarkable for a
son of Caledonia, who had known some little climbing
among the Highland mountains. He was cited as a wonderful
shot with the rifle, since not only could he split a
bullet on a knife-blade, but he could divide it into two
such equal parts that, upon weighing them, scarcely any
difference would be perceptible.
Kennedy's countenance strikingly recalled that of Herbert
Glendinning, as Sir Walter Scott has depicted it in
"The Monastery"; his stature was above six feet; full of
grace and easy movement, he yet seemed gifted with herculean
strength; a face embrowned by the sun; eyes keen
and black; a natural air of daring courage; in fine,
something sound, solid, and reliable in his entire person,
spoke, at first glance, in favor of the bonny Scot.
The acquaintanceship of these two friends had been
formed in India, when they belonged to the same regiment.
While Dick would be out in pursuit of the tiger
and the elephant, Samuel would be in search of plants and
insects. Each could call himself expert in his own province,
and more than one rare botanical specimen, that to
science was as great a victory won as the conquest of a
pair of ivory tusks, became the doctor's booty.
These two young men, moreover, never had occasion
to save each other's lives, or to render any reciprocal
service. Hence, an unalterable friendship. Destiny
sometimes bore them apart, but sympathy always united
them again.
Since their return to England they had been frequently
separated by the doctor's distant expeditions; but, on
his return, the latter never failed to go, not to ASK for
hospitality, but to bestow some weeks of his presence at
the home of his crony Dick.
The Scot talked of the past; the doctor busily prepared
for the future. The one looked back, the other forward.
Hence, a restless spirit personified in Ferguson; perfect
calmness typified in Kennedy - such was the contrast.
After his journey to the Thibet, the doctor had remained
nearly two years without hinting at new explorations; and
Dick, supposing that his friend's instinct for travel and
thirst for adventure had at length died out, was perfectly
enchanted. They would have ended badly, some day or other,
he thought to himself; no matter what experience one has
with men, one does not travel always with impunity among
cannibals and wild beasts. So, Kennedy besought the doctor
to tie up his bark for life, having done enough for science,
and too much for the gratitude of men.
The doctor contented himself with making no reply to
this. He remained absorbed in his own reflections, giving
himself up to secret calculations, passing his nights among
heaps of figures, and making experiments with the
strangest-looking machinery, inexplicable to everybody but
himself. It could readily be guessed, though, that some great
thought was fermenting in his brain.
"What can he have been planning?" wondered Kennedy, when, in
the month of January, his friend quitted him to return to London.
He found out one morning when he looked into the Daily Telegraph.
"Merciful Heaven!" he exclaimed, "the lunatic! the
madman! Cross Africa in a balloon! Nothing but that
was wanted to cap the climax! That's what he's been
bothering his wits about these two years past!"
Now, reader, substitute for all these exclamation points,
as many ringing thumps with a brawny fist upon the table,
and you have some idea of the manual exercise that Dick
went through while he thus spoke.
When his confidential maid-of-all-work, the aged Elspeth,
tried to insinuate that the whole thing might be a hoax -
"Not a bit of it!" said he. "Don't I know my man? Isn't it
just like him? Travel through the air! There, now, he's
jealous of the eagles, next! No! I warrant you, he'll not
do it! I'll find a way to stop him! He! why if they'd let
him alone, he'd start some day for the moon!"
On that very evening Kennedy, half alarmed, and half
exasperated, took the train for London, where he arrived
next morning.
Three-quarters of an hour later a cab deposited him at
the door of the doctor's modest dwelling, in Soho Square,
Greek Street. Forthwith he bounded up the steps and
announced his arrival with five good, hearty, sounding
raps at the door.
Ferguson opened, in person.
"Dick! you here?" he exclaimed, but with no great
expression of surprise, after all.
"Dick himself!" was the response.
"What, my dear boy, you at London, and this the
mid-season of the winter shooting?"
"Yes! here I am, at London!"
"And what have you come to town for?"
"To prevent the greatest piece of folly that ever was
conceived."
"Folly!" said the doctor.
"Is what this paper says, the truth?" rejoined Kennedy,
holding out the copy of the Daily Telegraph, mentioned above.
"Ah! that's what you mean, is it? These newspapers
are great tattlers! But, sit down, my dear Dick."
"No, I won't sit down! - Then, you really intend to
attempt this journey?"
"Most certainly! all my preparations are getting along
finely, and I - "
"Where are your traps? Let me have a chance at
them! I'll make them fly! I'll put your preparations in
fine order." And so saying, the gallant Scot gave way to
a genuine explosion of wrath.
"Come, be calm, my dear Dick!" resumed the doctor.
"You're angry at me because I did not acquaint you with
my new project."
"He calls this his new project!"
"I have been very busy," the doctor went on, without
heeding the interruption; "I have had so much to look
after! But rest assured that I should not have started
without writing to you."
"Oh, indeed! I'm highly honored."
"Because it is my intention to take you with me."
Upon this, the Scotchman gave a leap that a wild goat
would not have been ashamed of among his native crags.
"Ah! really, then, you want them to send us both to
Bedlam!"
"I have counted positively upon you, my dear Dick,
and I have picked you out from all the rest."
Kennedy stood speechless with amazement.
"After listening to me for ten minutes," said the doctor,
"you will thank me!"
"Are you speaking seriously?"
"Very seriously."
"And suppose that I refuse to go with you?"
"But you won't refuse."
"But, suppose that I were to refuse?"
"Well, I'd go alone."
"Let us sit down," said Kennedy, "and talk without
excitement. The moment you give up jesting about it,
we can discuss the thing."