, but this was the only inconvenience
experienced, until the voyagers were lost in a sea of clouds that shut
them out from the view of the earth. The sun at length began to descend,
and they then perceived, by a slackening in the lower part of the
balloon, that it was time for them to think of returning to the earth.
Judging from the compass that they were not far from the town of
Auxonne, they resolved to use all their endeavours to reach that place.
The sailing appliances had been considerably damaged by the rough
weather at starting. The rigging being disarranged, one of the oars had
got broken, another had become entangled in the rigging, so that there
remained only two of the four oars, and these, being on the same side,
were absolutely useless during the greatest part of the voyage. The
adventurers, however, assert that they made them work from eight to
nine minutes with the greatest ease, making use of them to tack to the
south-east.

"We hoped then to be able to descend near where we judged Auxonne to
be," the writer continues, "but we lost much gas by the opening in
the balloon, and descended more rapidly than we expected or wished. We
looked to our small stock of ballast with anxiety, but there was no need
of it, and we came very softly down upon a slope."

When the aeronauts arrived at Magny-les-Auxonne, the inhabitants gazed
upon them in terror, and two men and three women fell down on their
knees before them.

Here is an extract from the report of the experiment of the 12th of
June, the principal object of which was the attempt to discover the
means of steering in a certain direction:--

"M. de Verley and myself mounted in the balloon," says Guyton
de Morveau, "at seven o'clock. We rose rapidly and in an almost
perpendicular direction. The fall of the mercury in the barometer
was scarcely perceptible when the dilation of the hydrogen gas in the
balloon had become considerable. The globe swelled out, and a light
vapour around the mouth announced to us that the gas was commencing
to escape by the safety-valve. We assisted its escape by pulling the
valve-string.

"Having reduced the dilation sufficiently for our purposes, we resolved
to attempt the working of the balloon before the whole town and to turn
it from the east to the north. We saw with pleasure that our machinery
answered By the working of the helm, the prow of our air-boat was
turned in the direction we desired. The oars, working only on one