hour, and
was enveloped in a minute cloud of smoke. What a lasting impression this
microscopic neatness makes on us! What is that white puff I see down
there? the smoke of a cigar? No: it is a cloud of mist. It must be a
perfect plain that we are looking at, for we cannot distinguish between
the different altitudes of a bramble-bush and an oak a hundred years
old!

"It is one of the delights of an aeronaut to gaze on the familiar scenes
of earth from the immense height of the car of a balloon! What earthly
pleasure can compare with this! Free, calm, silent, roving through this
immense and hospitable space, where no human form can harm me, I despise
every evil power; I can feel the pleasure of existence for the first
time, for I am in full possession, as on no other occasion, of perfect
health of mind and body. The aeronauts of the 'Geant' will scarcely
condescend to pity those miserable mortals whom they can only faintly
recognise by their gigantic works, which appear to them not more
dignified than ant-hills!

"The sun had already set behind the purple horizon in our rear. The
atmosphere was still quite clear round the 'Geant,' although there was
a thick haze underneath, through which we could occasionally see lights
glimmering from the earth. We had attained a sufficient altitude to be
only just able to hear noises from villages that we left beneath us, and
were beginning to enjoy the delicious calm and repose peculiar to aerial
ascents.

"There is, however, a talk about dinner, or rather supper, and night is
now fast approaching. Every one eats with the best possible appetite.
Hams, fowls and dessert only appear to disappear with an equal
promptitude, and we quench our thirst with bordeaux and champagne. I
remind our companions of the pigeons we brought with us, and which are
hanging in a cage outside the railing. I knew there was no danger of
their flying away, so fearlessly opened the cage. The three or four
birds I had put in the car seemed struck with terror. They flew
awkwardly towards the centre of our party, tumbling among the plates and
dishes and under our feet. It was not a case of hunger with them, and I
ought to have remembered that their feeding time was long since past. I
replaced them in their cage.

"Meanwhile, the sun has left us for some time. Our longing gaze followed
it behind the dark clouds in the horizon, whose edges it tipped with a
glorious purple. Its last rays shone on us, and then cam