rouble of examining the aerostatic
feats of this aeronaut, and of examining the results of his
observations.

"The savant Robertson," says Arago, "performed at Hamburg on the 18th
of July, 1803, with his countryman, Lhoest, the first aeronautic voyage
from which science has been able to draw useful deductions. The two
aeronauts remained suspended in the air during five hours, and came
down near Hanover, twenty-five leagues from the spot from which they set
off."

The first time that Robertson appears in the annals of aerostation is in
1802, on the occasion of the sale of the balloon used at the battle
of Fleurus, of which mention will be made in the chapter on military
aerostation. But three years previously he had been instructed to make
a balloon of an original form, which should ascend in honour of the
Turkish ambassador at the garden of Tivoli. The fete was completely
successful. Turks, Chinese, Persians, and Bedouins will always be
welcome, as on this occasion, at Paris, appearing as they do only at
rare intervals, and for a short time.

The fete took place on the 2nd of July. Robertson presented himself at
the house of Esseid-Ali, to obtain his autograph. The Turkish ambassador
willingly granted the request, and wrote his name in letters, each of
which was two inches in height, on a sheet of paper. He then offered the
aeronaut coffee and comfits, and promised to be present to witness the
balloon ascent. His name was painted in large characters on a balloon
fifteen feet in diameter, and on the form of which was the figure of a
crescent. The experiment delighted the ambassador, and was well received
by the public.

Jacques Garnerin, when he came to make his debut as an aeronaut, made an
attempt with the parachute, the following August, at the garden of the
Hotel de Biron. The ambassador was asked to honour the fete, but he
declined, saying that he had "made up his mind that man was not intended
for flying--Mahomet had not so willed it."

Of one of Robertson's more interesting ascents he himself has left us
the following sketch:--

"I rose in the balloon at nine a.m., accompanied by my fellow-student
and countryman, M. Lhoest. We had 140 lbs. of ballast. The barometer
marked twenty-eight inches; the thermometer sixteen degrees Reaumur. In
spite of some slight wind from the north-west, the balloon mounted so
perpendicularly that in all the streets each of the spectators believed
we were mounting straight up ab