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^[[Coehis? 12 - handwritten in pencil]]

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SCIENCE, AND ENTERTAINMENT.   469
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myself held a conversation with our appended neighbour and friend, which was entirely confined to the progress we were making upwards, Mr. Cocking manifesting much anxiety, and wishing to be informed how we were rising, requesting to know when every additional elevation of 500 feet was accomplished.
'As soon as we had attained the height of 5,000 feet I told him that it would be impossible for us to get up as high as he desired in sufficient time for him to descend by the light of day. Upon this Mr. Cocking said, "Then I shall very soon leave you, but tell me whereabouts I am?" Mr. Spencer, who had a few minutes before caught a glimpse of the earth, answered, "We appear to be on a level with Greenwich." I then asked him if he felt himself quite comfortable, and whether he found that the practical trial bore out the calculations he had made? Mr. Cocking replied, "Yes; I never felt more comfortable or more delighted in my life." Shortly afterwards Mr. Cocking said, "Well, now I think I shall leave you." I answered, "I wish you a very good night and a safe descent, if you are determined to make it, and not to use the tackle."
'I should here observe, that with an anxiety to prevent any accident arising in the event of the violence of the wind rendering it impossible for a descent to be attempted, an apparatus had been constructed under the direction of Mr. F. Gye, to afford us the facility of assisting Mr. Cocking to haul himself up into the car of the balloon, and this is the tackle to which I thus alluded.
'Mr. Cocikng to this question made no other reply than 'Good night, Spencer; good night, Green.'
'At this instant I desired Mr. Spencer to take fast hold of the ropes, and like myself to crouch down in the car. In consequence of being compelled to keep hold of the valve line, of course I had but one hand which was available for the purposes of safety. With that hand, fortunately, in the perilous situation into which we were speedily thrown, I was able to maintain my position.
'Scarcely were these words uttered before we felt a slight jerk upon the liberating iron, but quickly discovered, from not having changed our elevation, that Mr. Cocking had failed in his attempt to free himself. Another but more powerful jerk ensued, and in an instant the balloon shot upwards with the velocity of a skyrocket.
'The effect upon us at this moment is almost beyond description. The immense machine which suspended us between "heaven and earth," whilst it appeared to be forced upwards with terrific violence and rapidity through unknown and untravelled regions, amidst the howlings of a fearful hurricane, rolled about as though revelling in a freedom for which it had long struggled, but of which, until that moment, it had been kept in absolute ignorance. It at length, as if somewhat fatigued by its exertions, gradually assumed the motions of a snake working its way with astonishing speed towards a given object. During this frightful operation, the gas was rushing in torrents from the upper and lower valves, but more particularly from the latter, as the density of the atmosphere through which we were forcing our progress pressed so heavily on the valve at the top of the balloon as to admit of comparatively but a small escape by that aperture.
'At this juncture, had it not been for the application to our mouths of two pipes leading into an air bag with which we had furnished ourselves previous to starting, we must within a minute have been suffocated, and so, but by different means, have shared the melancholy fate of our friend.
'This bag was formed of silk, sufficiently capacious to contain 100 gallons of atmospheric air. Prior to our ascent the bag was inflated, with the assistance of a pair of bellows, with 50 gallons of air, so allowing for any expansion which might be produced in the upper regions. Into one end of this bag were introduced two flexible tubes, and the moment we felt ourselves to be going up, in the manner just described, Mr. Spencer, as well as myself, placed either of them in our mouths. By this simple contrivance we preserved ourselves from instantaneous suffocation, a result which must have ensued from the apparently endless volume of gas with which the car was enveloped. The gas, notwithstanding all our precautions, from the violence of its operation on the human frame, almost immediately deprived us of sight, and we were both, as far as our visionary powers were concerned, in a state of total darkness for between four and five minutes.
'As soon as we had partially regained the use of our eyes, and had somewhat recovered from the effects of the awful
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scene into which, from the circumstances, we had been plunged, our first attention was directed to the barometer. I soon discovered that my powers had not sufficiently returned to enable me to see the mercury, but Mr. Spencer found that it stood at 13-20, giving an elevation of 23,384 feet, or about 4 miles and a quarter.
'I do not conceive, from the length of time I had been liberating the gas, that this was anything like our greatest altitude, for we were evidently effecting a rapid descent. This impression is corroborated by a rough calculation, which leads me to believe, knowing the customary rate at which the gas makes its escape, taken in consideration in conjunction with the length of time I had been pulling the valve-line, that we had lost at least 30,000 feet of gas, or 180,000 gallons, a total of 5,000 feet more that my own balloon will contain.
'It may be regarded as somewhat surprising that not a larger quantity had evaporated, especially when the size of the valves are considered, that at the top being nearly three feet in diameter, whilst the one at the neck of the balloon is upwards of two feet. The reason, however, is easily pointed out. The extreme rapidity with which we ascended, coupled with the consequent pressure of the atmosphere on the upper part of the machine, necessarily prevented much escape from the top valve. The same cause also forced an extraordinary emission from the opening at the neck, and I am decidedly of opinion, had it not fortuitously happened that the proprietors permitted this latter valve to be increased from 18 to 25 inches in diameter, that the balloon must have burst and my companion as well as myself been hurled headlong into eternity.
'As I have stated, we were now rapidly on the descent; having got rid of all the unusual annoyances to which I have referred; and finding that we were proceeding downwards with the ordinary calmness and steadiness, although with much speed, we hastened to empty two tin vessels of water which we had taken up for the purpose, and to charge them with the atmospheric air through which we were then descending. Our desire was to effect this object at our greatest altitude but from the circumstances which I have detailed we were unable to accomplish that end, and when the vessels were filled the mercury in the barometer had ascended to 17-50, or an elevation of 16,632 feet, about three miles.
'When we had accomplished this matter, finding ourselves suffering severely from cold, we referred to the thermometer, which stood at 28, four degrees below the freezing point.
'We were at this period apparently about two miles and a-half above a dense mountain of clouds, which presented the appearance of impenetrable masses of dark marble, whilst all around us was shed the brilliant rays of the setting sun. We continued to descend with great rapidity, and as we approached the clouds that velocity considerably increased. At this time so large had been our loss of gas that the balloon, instead of presenting to our sight its customary rotund and widely-expanded form, now merely looked like a comparatively small parachute, or half dome, without any aperture in its centre. We had parted with at least one-third of our gas, and were as far beneath the balloon itself as 50 or 60 feet.
'Recollecting the late hour at which we quitted Vauxhall, I now began to be anxious about the time, and on applying to Mr. Spencer, ascertained that it wanted not more than a quarter to nine o'clock. From this I was aware, notwithstanding in our then position we were blessed with a magnificent light, that on emerging below from the clouds darkness would have assumed her sable hue over the earth, and that we should have much difficulty, therefore, in ascertaining the nature and character of the country, supposing us to be over the land, on which we must effect our final descent. I, consequently, became extremely anxious to make our way through the clouds as quickly as possible, which having done we proceeded, until we had reached within some 300 feet of the ground, when we found it requisite, from our inability to ascertain the nature of the ground, the whole country beneath us offering the appearance of thick woods, to cast out every article of ballast and moveable matters, even to ropes and empty ballast-bags, in order to prevent us from coming in contact with what was supposed to be trees. After calling out for some time, and hanging out the grapnel, we heard voices in reply, and the parties speedily drew us to a safe place of landing, which proved to be close to the village of Offham, near Town Malling, seven miles west of Maidstone, and 28 from London.
'The balloon was packed, and conveyed in a cart to Town Malling, where we were most hospitably treated and provided
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