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An invariably favorable
wind had accelerated the progress of the Resolute toward the place of her
destination. The navigation of the Mozambique Channel was especially calm and
pleasant. The agreeable character of the trip by sea was regarded as a good
omen of the probable issue of the trip through the air. Every one looked
forward to the hour of arrival, and sought to give the last touch to the
doctor’s preparations.
At length the vessel
hove in sight of the town of Zanzibar, upon the island of the same name, and,
on the 15th of April, at 11 o’clock in the morning, she anchored in the
port.
The island of Zanzibar
belongs to the Imaum of Muscat, an ally of France and England, and is,
undoubtedly, his finest settlement. The port is frequented by a great many
vessels from the neighboring countries.
The island is separated
from the African coast only by a channel, the greatest width of which is but
thirty miles.
It has a large trade in
gums, ivory, and, above all, in “ebony,” for Zanzibar is the great
slave-market. Thither converges all the booty captured in the battles which the
chiefs of the interior are continually fighting. This traffic extends along the
whole eastern coast, and as far as the Nile latitudes. Mr. G. Lejean even
reports that he has seen it carried on, openly, under the French flag.
Upon the arrival of the
Resolute, the English consul at Zanzibar came on board to offer his services to
the doctor, of whose projects the European newspapers had made him aware for a
month past. But, up to that moment, he had remained with the numerous phalanx
of the incredulous.
“I doubted,”
said he, holding out his hand to Dr. Ferguson, “but now I doubt no
longer.”
He invited the doctor,
Kennedy, and the faithful Joe, of course, to his own dwelling. Through his
courtesy, the doctor was enabled to have knowledge of the various letters that
he had received from Captain Speke. The captain and his companions had suffered
dreadfully from hunger and bad weather before reaching the Ugogo country. They
could advance only with extreme difficulty, and did not expect to be able to
communicate again for a long time.
“Those are perils
and privations which we shall manage to avoid,” said the doctor.
The baggage of the three
travellers was conveyed to the consul’s residence. Arrangements were made
for disembarking the balloon upon the beach at Zanzibar. There was a convenient
spot, near the signal-mast, close by an immense building, that would serve to
shelter it from the east winds. This huge tower, resembling a tun standing on
one end, beside which the famous Heidelberg tun would have seemed but a very
ordinary barrel, served as a fortification, and on its platform were stationed
Belootchees, armed with lances. These Belootchees are a kind of brawling,
good-for-nothing Janizaries.
But, when about to land
the balloon, the consul was informed that the population of the island would
oppose their doing so by force. Nothing is so blind as fanatical passion. The
news of the arrival of a Christian, who was to ascend into the air, was
received with rage. The negroes, more exasperated than the Arabs, saw in this
project an attack upon their religion. They took it into their heads that some
mischief was meant to the sun and the moon. Now, these two luminaries are
objects of veneration to the African tribes, and they determined to oppose so
sacrilegious an enterprise.
The consul, informed of
their intentions, conferred with Dr. Ferguson and Captain Bennet on the
subject. The latter was unwilling to yield to threats, but his friend dissuaded
him from any idea of violent retaliation.
“We shall
certainly come out winners,” he said. “Even the imaum’s soldiers
will lend us a hand, if we need it. But, my dear captain, an accident may
happen in a moment, and it would require but one unlucky blow to do the balloon
an irreparable injury, so that the trip would be totally defeated; therefore we
must act with the greatest caution.”
“But what are we
to do? If we land on the coast of Africa, we shall encounter the same
difficulties. What are we to do?”
“Nothing is more
simple,” replied the consul. “You observe those small islands
outside of the port; land your balloon on one of them; surround it with a guard
of sailors, and you will have no risk to run.”
“Just the
thing!” said the doctor, “and we shall be entirely at our ease in
completing our preparations.”
The captain yielded to
these suggestions, and the Resolute was headed for the island of Koumbeni.
During the morning of the 16th April, the balloon was placed in safety in the
middle of a clearing in the great woods, with which the soil is studded.
Two masts, eighty feet
in height, were raised at the same distance from each other. Blocks and tackle,
placed at their extremities, afforded the means of elevating the balloon, by
the aid of a transverse rope. It was then entirely uninflated. The interior
balloon was fastened to the exterior one, in such manner as to be lifted up in
the same way. To the lower end of each balloon were fixed the pipes that served
to introduce the hydrogen gas.
The whole day, on the
17th, was spent in arranging the apparatus destined to produce the gas; it
consisted of some thirty casks, in which the decomposition of water was
effected by means of iron-filings and sulphuric acid placed together in a large
quantity of the first-named fluid. The hydrogen passed into a huge central
cask, after having been washed on the way, and thence into each balloon by the
conduit-pipes. In this manner each of them received a certain
accurately-ascertained quantity of gas. For this purpose, there had to be
employed eighteen hundred and sixty-six pounds of sulphuric acid, sixteen
thousand and fifty pounds of iron, and nine thousand one hundred and sixty-six
gallons of water. This operation commenced on the following night, about three
A.M., and lasted nearly eight hours. The next day, the balloon, covered with
its network, undulated gracefully above its car, which was held to the ground
by numerous sacks of earth. The inflating apparatus was put together with
extreme care, and the pipes issuing from the balloon were securely fitted to
the cylindrical case.
The anchors, the
cordage, the instruments, the travelling-wraps, the awning, the provisions, and
the arms, were put in the place assigned to them in the car. The supply of
water was procured at Zanzibar. The two hundred pounds of ballast were
distributed in fifty bags placed at the bottom of the car, but within
arm’s-reach.
These preparations were
concluded about five o’clock in the evening, while sentinels kept close
watch around the island, and the boats of the Resolute patrolled the channel.
The blacks continued to
show their displeasure by grimaces and contortions. Their obi-men, or wizards,
went up and down among the angry throngs, pouring fuel on the flame of their
fanaticism; and some of the excited wretches, more furious and daring than the
rest, attempted to get to the island by swimming, but they were easily driven
off.
Thereupon the sorceries
and incantations commenced; the “rain-makers,” who pretend to have
control over the clouds, invoked the storms and the
“stone-showers,” as the blacks call hail, to their aid. To compel
them to do so, they plucked leaves of all the different trees that grow in that
country, and boiled them over a slow fire, while, at the same time, a sheep was
killed by thrusting a long needle into its heart. But, in spite of all their
ceremonies, the sky remained clear and beautiful, and they profited nothing by
their slaughtered sheep and their ugly grimaces.
The blacks then
abandoned themselves to the most furious orgies, and got fearfully drunk on
“tembo,” a kind of ardent spirits drawn from the cocoa-nut tree,
and an extremely heady sort of beer called “togwa.” Their chants,
which were destitute of all melody, but were sung in excellent time, continued
until far into the night.
About six o’clock
in the evening, the captain assembled the travellers and the officers of the
ship at a farewell repast in his cabin. Kennedy, whom nobody ventured to
question now, sat with his eyes riveted on Dr. Ferguson, murmuring
indistinguishable words. In other respects, the dinner was a gloomy one. The
approach of the final moment filled everybody with the most serious
reflections. What had fate in store for these daring adventurers? Should they
ever again find themselves in the midst of their friends, or seated at the
domestic hearth? Were their travelling apparatus to fail, what would become of
them, among those ferocious savage tribes, in regions that had never been
explored, and in the midst of boundless deserts?
Such thoughts as these,
which had been dim and vague until then, or but slightly regarded when they
came up, returned upon their excited fancies with intense force at this parting
moment. Dr. Ferguson, still cold and impassible, talked of this, that, and the
other; but he strove in vain to overcome this infectious gloominess. He utterly
failed.
As some demonstration
against the personal safety of the doctor and his companions was feared, all
three slept that night on board the Resolute. At six o’clock in the
morning they left their cabin, and landed on the island of Koumbeni.
The balloon was swaying
gently to and fro in the morning breeze; the sand-bags that had held it down
were now replaced by some twenty strong-armed sailors, and Captain Bennet and
his officers were present to witness the solemn departure of their friends.
At this moment Kennedy
went right up to the doctor, grasped his hand, and said:
“Samuel, have you
absolutely determined to go?”
“Solemnly
determined, my dear Dick.”
“I have done every
thing that I could to prevent this expedition, have I not?”
“Every
thing!”
“Well, then, my
conscience is clear on that score, and I will go with you.”
“I was sure you
would!” said the doctor, betraying in his features swift traces of
emotion.
At last the moment of
final leave-taking arrived. The captain and his officers embraced their
dauntless friends with great feeling, not excepting even Joe, who, worthy
fellow, was as proud and happy as a prince. Every one in the party insisted
upon having a final shake of the doctor’s hand.
At nine o’clock
the three travellers got into their car. The doctor lit the combustible in his
cylinder and turned the flame so as to produce a rapid heat, and the balloon,
which had rested on the ground in perfect equipoise, began to rise in a few
minutes, so that the seamen had to slacken the ropes they held it by. The car
then rose about twenty feet above their heads.
“My
friends!” exclaimed the doctor, standing up between his two companions,
and taking off his hat, “let us give our aerial ship a name that will
bring her good luck! let us christen her Victoria!”
This speech was answered
with stentorian cheers of “Huzza for the Queen! Huzza for Old
England!”
At this moment the
ascensional force of the balloon increased prodigiously, and Ferguson, Kennedy,
and Joe, waved a last good-by to their friends.
“Let go
all!” shouted the doctor, and at the word the Victoria shot rapidly up
into the sky, while the four carronades on board the Resolute thundered forth a
parting salute in her honor.
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