automobile, and the
navigation of the air. At fifteen Santos-Dumont saw his first
balloon and marked the day with red.

[Illustration: (C) U. & U.

_A British Kite Balloon._

(_The open sack at the lower end catches the breeze and keeps the
balloon steady._)]

I too desired to go ballooning [he writes]. In the long
sun-bathed Brazilian afternoons, when the hum of insects,
punctuated by the far-off cry of some bird lulled me, I would lie
in the shade of the veranda and gaze into the fair sky of Brazil
where the birds fly so high and soar with such ease on their
great outstretched wings; where the clouds mount so gaily in the
pure light of day, and you have only to raise your eyes to fall
in love with space and freedom. So, musing on the exploration of
the aerial ocean, I, too, devised airships and flying-machines in
my imagination.

[Illustration: (C) U. & U.

_A British "Blimp" Photographed from Above._]

From dreaming, the boy's ambitions rapidly developed into actions.
Good South Americans, whatever the practice of their northern
neighbours, do not wait to die before going to Paris. At the age of
eighteen the youth found himself in the capital of the world. To his
amazement he found that the science of aeronautics, such as it was,
had stopped with Giffard's work in 1852. No dirigible was to be
heard of in all Paris. The antiquated gas ball was the only way to
approach the upper air. When the boy tried to arrange for an
ascension the balloonist he consulted put so unconscionable a price
on one ascent that he bought an automobile instead--one of the first
made, for this was in 1891--and with it returned to Brazil. It was
not until six years later that, his ambition newly fired by reading
of Andree's plans for reaching the Pole in a balloon, Santos-Dumont
took up anew his ambition to become an aviator. His own account of
his first ascent does not bear precisely the hall-mark of the
enthusiast too rapt in ecstasy to think of common things. "I had
brought up," he notes gravely, "a substantial lunch of hard-boiled
eggs, cold roast beef and chicken, cheese, ice cream, fruits and
cakes, champagne, coffee, and chartreuse!"

The balloon with its intrepid voyagers nevertheless returned to
earth in safety.

A picturesque figure, an habitue of the clubs and an eager
sportsman, Santos-Dumont at once won the liking of the French
people, and attracted attention wherever