dense fog; hour after hour went by, until at length dawn revealed
a densely-wooded tract of country with which they were entirely
unfamiliar. They decided to land, and they were greatly surprised to
find that they had reached Weilburg, in Nassau, Germany. The whole
journey of 500 miles had been made in eighteen hours.

Probably no British aeronaut has made more daring and exciting ascents
than Mr. Green--unless it be a member of the famous Spencer family, of
whom we speak in another chapter. It is said that Mr. Green went aloft
over a thousand times, and in later years he was accompanied by various
passengers who were making ascents for scientific purposes. His skill
was so great that though he had numerous hairbreadth escapes he seldom
suffered much bodily harm. He lived to the ripe old age of eighty-five.

CHAPTER VI. The Parachute

No doubt many of those who read this book have seen an aeronaut
descend from a balloon by the aid of a parachute. For many years this
performance has been one of the most attractive items on the programmes
of fetes, galas, and various other outdoor exhibitions.

The word "parachute" has been almost bodily taken from the French
language. It is derived from the French parer to parry, and chute a
fall. In appearance a parachute is very similar to an enormous umbrella.

M. Blanchard, one of the pioneers of ballooning, has the honour of
first using a parachute, although not in person. The first "aeronaut" to
descend by this apparatus was a dog. The astonished animal was placed
in a basket attached to a parachute, taken up in a balloon, and after
reaching a considerable altitude was released. Happily for the dog
the parachute acted quite admirably, and the animal had a graceful and
gentle descent.

Shortly afterwards a well-known French aeronaut, M. Garnerin, had an
equally satisfactory descent, and soon the parachute was used by most
of the prominent aeronauts of the day. Mr. Cocking, a well-known
balloonist, held somewhat different views from those of other inventors
as to the best form of construction of parachutes. His idea was that a
parachute should be very large and rather heavy in order to be able to
support a great weight. His first descent from a great height was also
his last. In 1837, accompanied by Messrs. Spencer and Green, he went up
with his parachute, attached to the Nassau balloon. At a height of about
a mile the parachute was liberated, but it failed to act properly;