o propose to me to accept
commercial prospectuses. We shall never have too much money for the
construction of our first aeromotive. I have accepted and made a
contract."

Besides many miscellaneous articles, such as grapnels, fowling-pieces,
speaking-trumpets, etcetera, that were to be carried up in this cot,
there were provisions of all sorts, instruments for scientific
observations, games, means of defence in case of descent among an
inhospitable people, and two cages of carrier-pigeons sent from Liege.
The car and all it contained was secured by twenty cables traversing on
and beneath its walls, interlaced with the fabric and fastened to a
large hoop just below the neck, to which hoop was also attached the
ropes of the net-work, by which the balloon itself was enveloped. There
were two axles and four wheels connected with the car, by means of which
it could, when necessary, be drawn along an ordinary road. Canes,
disposed to act as springs, were placed underneath and round the middle
of it to protect it from concussions, besides which internal buoys and
an immense girdle in compartments of inflated india-rubber, rendered it
incapable of submersion in water.

Such was the giant balloon in which Monsieur Nadar and his friends made
two ascents; of the first of which (4th October 1863) Galignani writes
thus:--

"The departure of this Leviathan of the airy regions attracted immense
crowds to the Champ de Mars yesterday afternoon. Considering that the
avenues encircling that vast space were filled to suffocation, so that
we found it extremely difficult to force our way to the open ground
reserved for tickets, and that all the housetops were occupied by
spectators, we think the number of persons present may fairly be stated
at 80,000. Ample precautions had been taken to prevent disasters,--a
strong police force, supported by a company of infantry and some
cavalry, being present to maintain order. The balloon, which is 90
yards in circumference, and has consumed upwards of 20,000 yards of silk
in its manufacture, was held down, while filling, by about 100 men, and
the weight of at least 200 sandbags. The car was of wicker-work,
comprising an inner surface of about 54 square feet divided into three
compartments or small rooms, surmounted by an open terrace, to which the
balloon was braced. Outside grapnels, wheels, and fowling-pieces, four
of each, besides two speaking-trumpets, were lashed to the sides of the
ca