ficient means of guidance, except in the knowledge of the
different currents of air, of which it is necessary to make a study; and
these are generally regulated by the elevation." The two brothers often
recurred to this idea.

The pictures of the first ascent of Blanchard from the Champ de Mars on
the 2nd of March, 1784, in the presence of a vast multitude, show us the
oars and the mechanism of his flying-machine fitted to a balloon. The
design which we here give seems to us deserving of being considered only
as one of the caricatures of the time, especially when we look at
the personage dressed in the fool's head-gear, who sits behind and
accompanies the triumphant ascent of the aeronaut with music.

It was not with this apparatus that Blanchard effected his ascent, for
we have seen that the gearing of his vessel was broken by the infuriated
Dupont de Chambon. Yet the aeronaut pretends to have been, to some
extent, assisted by his mechanical contrivances. The following is his
narrative:--

"I rose to a certain height over Plassy, and perceiving Villette,
which I did not despair of reaching in spite of the misfortune that had
happened to me, I attached a rope of my rigging to my leg, not being
able to make use of my left hand, which I had wrapped in my handkerchief
on account of the sword-wound it had received. I fixed up a piece of
cloth, and thus made a sort of sail with which I hugged the wind. But
the rays of the sun had so heated and rarefied the inflammable air
that soon I forgot my rigging in thinking of the terrible danger that
threatened me."

Going on to narrate the dangers that beset him, Blanchard describes a
number of most extraordinary experiences, which would be better worthy
of a place here if they were more like the truth. His curious narrative
is thus brought to a close:--

"Escaped from these impetuous and contrary winds, during which I had
felt a great degree of cold, I mounted perpendicularly. The cold became
excessive. Being hungry I ate a morsel of cake. I wished to drink, but
in searching the car nothing was to be seen but the debris of bottles
and glasses, which my assailant had left behind him when we were about
to depart. Afterwards all was so calm that nothing could be seen or
heard. The silence became appalling, and to add to my alarm I began to
lose consciousness. I now wished to take snuff, but found I had left my
box behind me. I changed my seat many times; I went from prow to stern,