after the first model, and
with the assistance of three cowboy friends personally made a number of
flights in the steep mountains near San Juan (a hundred miles distant).
In making these flights I simply took the aeroplane and made a running
jump. These tests were discontinued after I put my foot into a squirrel
hole in landing and hurt my leg.

'The following year I commenced the work on a larger scale, by engaging
aeronauts to ride my aeroplane dropped from balloons. During this work I
used five hot-air balloons and one gas balloon, five or six aeroplanes,
three riders--Maloney, Wilkie, and Defolco--and had sixteen applicants
on my list, and had a training station to prepare any when I needed
them.

'Exhibitions were given in Santa Cruz, San Jose, Santa Clara, Oaklands,
and Sacramento. The flights that were made, instead of being haphazard
affairs, were in the order of safety and development. In the first
flight of an aeronaut the aeroplane was so arranged that the rider had
little liberty of action, consequently he could make only a limited
flight. In some of the first flights, the aeroplane did little more than
settle in the air. But as the rider gained experience in each successive
flight I changed the adjustments, giving him more liberty of action, so
he could obtain longer flights and more varied movements in the flights.
But in none of the flights did I have the adjustments so that the riders
had full liberty, as I did not consider that they had the requisite
knowledge and experience necessary for their safety; and hence, none
of my aeroplanes were launched so arranged that the rider could make
adjustments necessary for a full flight.

'This line of action caused a good deal of trouble with aeronauts or
riders, who had unbounded confidence and wanted to make long flights
after the first few trials; but I found it necessary, as they seemed
slow in comprehending the important elements and were willing to
take risks. To give them the full knowledge in these matters I was
formulating plans for a large starting station on the Mount Hamilton
Range from which I could launch an aeroplane capable of carrying two,
one of my aeronauts and myself, so I could teach him by demonstration.
But the disasters consequent on the great earthquake completely stopped
all my work on these lines. The flights that were given were only the
first of the series with aeroplanes patterned after the first model.
There were no aeroplanes co