hmond, I happened to be close to the
balloon when the heavy firing began. The wind was rather high; but I was
anxious to see, if possible, what was going on, and I went up with the
father of the aeronaut. The balloon was, however, short of gas, and
as the wind was high we were obliged to come down. I then went up by
myself, the diminished weight giving increased steadiness; but it
was not considered safe to go more than 500 feet, on account of the
unsettled state of the weather. The balloon was very unsteady, so much
so that it was difficult to fix my sight on any particular object. At
that distance I could see nothing of the fight."

Following this is another significant sentence:--

"In the case of a siege, I am inclined to think that a balloon
reconnaissance would be of less value than in almost any other case
where a reconnaissance can be required; but, even here, if useless,
it is, at any rate, also harmless. I once saw the fire of artillery
directed from the balloon; this became necessary, as it was only in
this way that the picket which it was desired to dislodge could be seen.
However, I cannot say that I thought the fire of artillery was of much
effect against the unseen object; not that this was the fault of the
balloon, for had it not told the artillerists which way the shots were
falling their fire would have been more useless still."

It will be observed that at this time photography had not been adopted
as an adjunct to military ballooning.

Full details have been given in this chapter of the monster balloon
constructed by M. Nadar; but in 1864 Eugene Godard built one larger yet
of the Montgolfier type. Its capacity was nearly half a million cubic
feet, while the stove which inflated it stood 18 feet high, and weighed
nearly 1,000 pounds. Two free ascents were made without mishap from
Cremorne Gardens. Five years later Ashburnham Park was the scene of
captive ascents made with another mammoth balloon, containing no less
than 350,000 cubic feet of pure hydrogen, and capable of lifting
11 tons. It was built at a cost of 28,000 francs by M. Giffard, the
well-known engineer and inventor of the injector for feeding steam
engines.

These aerial leviathans do not appear to have been, in any true sense
successful.

CHAPTER XVIII. THE BALLOON IN THE SIEGE OF PARIS.

Within a few months of the completion of the period covered by the
records of the last chapter, France was destined to receive a more
ur