"I raised myself in the middle of the car, and abandoned myself to the
spectacle before me. At my departure from the meadow the sun had sunk to
the people of the valleys; soon he shone for me alone, and came again to
pour his rays upon the balloon and the car. I was the only creature in
the horizon in sunshine--all the rest of nature was in shade. Ere long,
however, the sun disappeared, and thus I had the pleasure of seeing him
set twice in the same day. I contemplated for some moments the mists and
vapours that rose from the valley and the rivers The clouds seemed to
come forth from the earth, and to accumulate the one upon the other.
Their colour was a monotonous grey--a natural effect, for there was no
light save that of the moon.

"I observed that I had tacked round twice, and I felt currents which
called me to my senses. I found with surprise the effect of the wind,
and saw the cloth of my flag: extended horizontally.

"In the midst of the inexpressible pleasure of this state of ecstatic
contemplation, I was recalled to myself by a most extraordinary pain
which I felt in the interior of the ears and in the maxillary glands.
This I attributed to the dilation of the air contained in the cellular
tissue of the organ as much as to the cold outside. I was in my vest,
with my head uncovered. I immediately covered my head with a bonnet of
wool which was at my feet, but the pain only disappeared with my descent
to the ground.

"It was now seven or eight minutes since I had arrived at this
elevation, and I now commenced to descend. I remembered the promise I
had made to the Duke of Chartres, to return in half an hour. I quickened
my descent by opening the valve from time to time. Soon the balloon,
empty now to one half, presented the appearance of a hemisphere.

"Arrived at twenty-three fathoms from the earth, I suddenly threw over
two or three pounds of ballast, which arrested my descent, and which I
had carefully kept for this purpose. I then slowly descended upon the
ground, which I had, so to speak, chosen."

Such is the narrative of the second aerial voyage. After such a
memorable ascent one is astonished to learn that Professor Charles never
repeated his experiment. It has been said that, in descending from
his car, he had vowed that he would never again expose himself to such
perils, so strong had been the alarm he felt when the peasants ceasing
to hold him down he shot up into the sky with the rapidity of an arr