THE UNPARALLELED ADVENTURES OF ONE HANS 
PFAAL 

BY late accounts from Rotterdam, that 
city seems to be in a high state of 
philosophical excitement. Indeed, 
phenomena have there occurred of a 
nature so completely unexpected--so 
entirely novel--so utterly at variance 
with preconceived opinions--as to leave 
no doubt on my mind that long ere this 
all Europe is in an uproar, all physics 
in a ferment, all reason and astronomy 
together by the ears.

It appears that on the- day of X (I am 
not positive about the date), a vast 
crowd of people, for purposes not 
specifically mentioned, were assembled 
in the great square of the Exchange in 
the well-conditioned city of Rotterdam. 
The day was warm--unusually so for the 
season--there was hardly a breath of 
air stirring; and the multitude were in 
no bad humor at being now and then 
besprinkled with friendly showers of 
momentary duration, that fell from 
large white masses of cloud which 
chequered in a fitful manner the blue 
vault of the firmament. Nevertheless, 
about noon, a slight but remarkable 
agitation became apparent in the 
assembly: the clattering of ten 
thousand tongues succeeded; and, in an 
instant afterward, ten thousand faces 
were upturned toward the heavens, ten 
thousand pipes descended simultaneously 
from the corners of ten thousand 
mouths, and a shout, which could be 
compared to nothing but the roaring of 
Niagara, resounded long, loudly, and 
furiously, through all the environs of 
Rotterdam.

The origin of this hubbub soon became 
sufficiently evident. From behind the 
huge bulk of one of those 
sharply-defined masses of cloud already 
mentioned, was seen slowly to emerge 
into an open area of blue space, a 
queer, heterogeneous, but apparently 
solid substance, so oddly shaped, so 
whimsically put together, as not to be 
in any manner comprehended, and never 
to be sufficiently admired, by the host 
of sturdy burghers who stood 
open-mouthed below. What could it be? 
In the name of all the vrows and devils 
in Rotterdam, what could it possibly 
portend? No one knew, no one could 
imagine; no one--not even the 
burgomaster Mynheer Superbus Von 
Underduk--had the slightest clew by 
which to unravel the mystery; so, as 
nothing more reasonable could be done, 
every one to a man replaced his pipe 
carefully in the corner of his mouth, 
and cocking up his right eye towards 
the phenomenon, puffed, paused, waddled 
about, and grunted significantly--then 
waddled back, grunted, paused, and 
finally--puffed again.

In the meantime, however, lower and 
still lower toward the goodly city, 
came the object of so much curiosity, 
and the cause of so much smoke. In a 
very few minutes it arrived near enough 
to be accurately discerned. It appeared 
to be--yes! it was undoubtedly a 
species of balloon; but surely no such 
balloon had ever been seen in Rotterdam 
before. For who, let me ask, ever heard 
of a balloon manufactured entirely of 
dirty newspapers? No man in Holland 
certainly; yet here, under the very 
noses of the people, or rather at some 
distance above their noses was the 
identical thing in question, and 
composed, I have it on the best 
authority, of the precise material 
which no one had ever before known to 
be used for a similar purpose. It was 
an egregious insult to the good sense 
of the burghers of Rotterdam. As to the 
shape of the phenomenon, it was even 
still more reprehensible. Being little 
or nothing better than a huge foolscap 
turned upside down. And this similitude 
was regarded as by no means lessened 
when, upon nearer inspection, there was 
perceived a large tassel depending from 
its apex, and, around the upper rim or 
base of the cone, a circle of little 
instruments, resembling sheep-bells, 
which kept up a continual tinkling to 
the tune of Betty Martin. But still 
worse. Suspended by blue ribbons to the 
end of this fantastic machine, there 
hung, by way of car, an enormous drab 
beaver hat, with a brim superlatively 
broad, and a hemispherical crown with a 
black band and a silver buckle. It is, 
however, somewhat remarkable that many 
citizens of Rotterdam swore to having 
seen the same hat repeatedly before; 
and indeed the whole assembly seemed to 
regard it with eyes of familiarity; 
while the vrow Grettel Pfaall, upon 
sight of it, uttered an exclamation of 
joyful surprise, and declared it to be 
the identical hat of her good man 
himself. Now this was a circumstance 
the more to be observed, as Pfaall, 
with three companions, had actually 
disappeared from Rotterdam about five 
years before, in a very sudden and 
unaccountable manner, and up to the 
date of this narrative all attempts had 
failed of obtaining any intelligence 
concerning them whatsoever. To be sure, 
some bones which were thought to be 
human, mixed up with a quantity of 
odd-looking rubbish, had been lately 
discovered in a retired situation to 
the east of Rotterdam, and some people 
went so far as to imagine that in this 
spot a foul murder had been committed, 
and that the sufferers were in all 
probability Hans Pfaall and his 
associates. But to return.

The balloon (for such no doubt it was) 
had now descended to within a hundred 
feet of the earth, allowing the crowd 
below a sufficiently distinct view of 
the person of its occupant. This was in 
truth a very droll little somebody. He 
could not have been more than two feet 
in height; but this altitude, little as 
it was, would have been sufficient to 
destroy his equilibrium, and tilt him 
over the edge of his tiny car, but for 
the intervention of a circular rim 
reaching as high as the breast, and 
rigged on to the cords of the balloon. 
The body of the little man was more 
than proportionately broad, giving to 
his entire figure a rotundity highly 
absurd. His feet, of course, could not 
be seen at all, although a horny 
substance of suspicious nature was 
occasionally protruded through a rent 
in the bottom of the car, or to speak 
more properly, in the top of the hat. 
His hands were enormously large. His 
hair was extremely gray, and collected 
in a cue behind. His nose was 
prodigiously long, crooked, and 
inflammatory; his eyes full, brilliant, 
and acute; his chin and cheeks, 
although wrinkled with age, were broad, 
puffy, and double; but of ears of any 
kind or character there was not a 
semblance to be discovered upon any 
portion of his head. This odd little 
gentleman was dressed in a loose 
surtout of sky-blue satin, with tight 
breeches to match, fastened with silver 
buckles at the knees. His vest was of 
some bright yellow material; a white 
taffety cap was set jauntily on one 
side of his head; and, to complete his 
equipment, a blood-red silk 
handkerchief enveloped his throat, and 
fell down, in a dainty manner, upon his 
bosom, in a fantastic bow-knot of 
super-eminent dimensions.

Having descended, as I said before, to 
about one hundred feet from the surface 
of the earth, the little old gentleman 
was suddenly seized with a fit of 
trepidation, and appeared disinclined 
to make any nearer approach to terra 
firma. Throwing out, therefore, a 
quantity of sand from a canvas bag, 
which, he lifted with great difficulty, 
he became stationary in an instant. He 
then proceeded, in a hurried and 
agitated manner, to extract from a 
side-pocket in his surtout a large 
morocco pocket-book. This he poised 
suspiciously in his hand, then eyed it 
with an air of extreme surprise, and 
was evidently astonished at its weight. 
He at length opened it, and drawing 
there from a huge letter sealed with 
red sealing-wax and tied carefully with 
red tape, let it fall precisely at the 
feet of the burgomaster, Superbus Von 
Underduk. His Excellency stooped to 
take it up. But the aeronaut, still 
greatly discomposed, and having 
apparently no farther business to 
detain him in Rotterdam, began at this 
moment to make busy preparations for 
departure; and it being necessary to 
discharge a portion of ballast to 
enable him to reascend, the half dozen 
bags which he threw out, one after 
another, without taking the trouble to 
empty their contents, tumbled, every 
one of them, most unfortunately upon 
the back of the burgomaster, and rolled 
him over and over no less than 
one-and-twenty times, in the face of 
every man in Rotterdam. It is not to be 
supposed, however, that the great 
Underduk suffered this impertinence on 
the part of the little old man to pass 
off with impunity. It is said, on the 
contrary, that during each and every 
one of his one-and twenty 
circumvolutions he emitted no less than 
one-and-twenty distinct and furious 
whiffs from his pipe, to which he held 
fast the whole time with all his might, 
and to which he intends holding fast 
until the day of his death.

In the meantime the balloon arose like 
a lark, and, soaring far away above the 
city, at length drifted quietly behind 
a cloud similar to that from which it 
had so oddly emerged, and was thus lost 
forever to the wondering eyes of the 
good citizens of Rotterdam. All 
attention was now directed to the 
letter, the descent of which, and the 
consequences attending thereupon, had 
proved so fatally subversive of both 
person and personal dignity to his 
Excellency, the illustrious Burgomaster 
Mynheer Superbus Von Underduk. That 
functionary, however, had not failed, 
during his circumgyratory movements, to 
bestow a thought upon the important 
subject of securing the packet in 
question, which was seen, upon 
inspection, to have fallen into the 
most proper hands, being actually 
addressed to himself and Professor 
Rub-a-dub, in their official capacities 
of President and Vice-President of the 
Rotterdam College of Astronomy. It was 
accordingly opened by those dignitaries 
upon the spot, and found to contain the 
following extraordinary, and indeed 
very serious, communications.

To their Excellencies Von Underduk and 
Rub-a-dub, President and Vice-President 
of the States' College of Astronomers, 
in the city of Rotterdam.

"Your Excellencies may perhaps be able 
to remember an humble artizan, by name 
Hans Pfaall, and by occupation a mender 
of bellows, who, with three others, 
disappeared from Rotterdam, about five 
years ago, in a manner which must have 
been considered by all parties at once 
sudden, and extremely unaccountable. 
If, however, it so please your 
Excellencies, I, the writer of this 
communication, am the identical Hans 
Pfaall himself. It is well known to 
most of my fellow citizens, that for 
the period of forty years I continued 
to occupy the little square brick 
building, at the head of the alley 
called Sauerkraut, in which I resided 
at the time of my disappearance. My 
ancestors have also resided therein 
time out of mind--they, as well as 
myself, steadily following the 
respectable and indeed lucrative 
profession of mending of bellows. For, 
to speak the truth, until of late 
years, that the heads of all the people 
have been set agog with politics, no 
better business than my own could an 
honest citizen of Rotterdam either 
desire or deserve. Credit was good, 
employment was never wanting, and on 
all hands there was no lack of either 
money or good-will. But, as I was 
saying, we soon began to feel the 
effects of liberty and long speeches, 
and radicalism, and all that sort of 
thing. People who were formerly, the 
very best customers in the world, had 
now not a moment of time to think of us 
at all. They had, so they said, as much 
as they could do to read about the 
revolutions, and keep up with the march 
of intellect and the spirit of the age. 
If a fire wanted fanning, it could 
readily be fanned with a newspaper, and 
as the government grew weaker, I have 
no doubt that leather and iron acquired 
durability in proportion, for, in a 
very short time, there was not a pair 
of bellows in all Rotterdam that ever 
stood in need of a stitch or required 
the assistance of a hammer. This was a 
state of things not to be endured. I 
soon grew as poor as a rat, and, having 
a wife and children to provide for, my 
burdens at length became intolerable, 
and I spent hour after hour in 
reflecting upon the most convenient 
method of putting an end to my life. 
Duns, in the meantime, left me little 
leisure for contemplation. My house was 
literally besieged from morning till 
night, so that I began to rave, and 
foam, and fret like a caged tiger 
against the bars of his enclosure. 
There were three fellows in particular 
who worried me beyond endurance, 
keeping watch continually about my 
door, and threatening me with the law. 
Upon these three I internally vowed the 
bitterest revenge, if ever I should be 
so happy as to get them within my 
clutches; and I believe nothing in the 
world but the pleasure of this 
anticipation prevented me from putting 
my plan of suicide into immediate 
execution, by blowing my brains out 
with a blunderbuss. I thought it best, 
however, to dissemble my wrath, and to 
treat them with promises and fair 
words, until, by some good turn of 
fate, an opportunity of vengeance 
should be afforded me.

"One day, having given my creditors the 
slip, and feeling more than usually 
dejected, I continued for a long time 
to wander about the most obscure 
streets without object whatever, until 
at length I chanced to stumble against 
the corner of a bookseller's stall. 
Seeing a chair close at hand, for the 
use of customers, I threw myself 
doggedly into it, and, hardly knowing 
why, opened the pages of the first 
volume which came within my reach. It 
proved to be a small pamphlet treatise 
on Speculative Astronomy, written 
either by Professor Encke of Berlin or 
by a Frenchman of somewhat similar 
name. I had some little tincture of 
information on matters of this nature, 
and soon became more and more absorbed 
in the contents of the book, reading it 
actually through twice before I awoke 
to a recollection of what was passing 
around me. By this time it began to 
grow dark, and I directed my steps 
toward home. But the treatise had made 
an indelible impression on my mind, 
and, as I sauntered along the dusky 
streets, I revolved carefully over in 
my memory the wild and sometimes 
unintelligible reasonings of the 
writer. There are some particular 
passages which affected my imagination 
in a powerful and extraordinary manner. 
The longer I meditated upon these the 
more intense grew the interest which 
had been excited within me. The limited 
nature of my education in general, and 
more especially my ignorance on 
subjects connected with natural 
philosophy, so far from rendering me 
diffident of my own ability to 
comprehend what I had read, or inducing 
me to mistrust the many vague notions 
which had arisen in consequence, merely 
served as a farther stimulus to 
imagination; and I was vain enough, or 
perhaps reasonable enough, to doubt 
whether those crude ideas which, 
arising in ill-regulated minds, have 
all the appearance, may not often in 
effect possess all the force, the 
reality, and other inherent properties, 
of instinct or intuition; whether, to 
proceed a step farther, profundity 
itself might not, in matters of a 
purely speculative nature, be detected 
as a legitimate source of falsity and 
error. In other words, I believed, and 
still do believe, that truth, is 
frequently of its own essence, 
superficial, and that, in many cases, 
the depth lies more in the abysses 
where we seek her, than in the actual 
situations wherein she may be found. 
Nature herself seemed to afford me 
corroboration of these ideas. In the 
contemplation of the heavenly bodies it 
struck me forcibly that I could not 
distinguish a star with nearly as much 
precision, when I gazed on it with 
earnest, direct and undeviating 
attention, as when I suffered my eye 
only to glance in its vicinity alone. I 
was not, of course, at that time aware 
that this apparent paradox was 
occasioned by the center of the visual 
area being less susceptible of feeble 
impressions of light than the exterior 
portions of the retina. This knowledge, 
and some of another kind, came 
afterwards in the course of an eventful 
five years, during which I have dropped 
the prejudices of my former humble 
situation in life, and forgotten the 
bellows-mender in far different 
occupations. But at the epoch of which 
I speak, the analogy which a casual 
observation of a star offered to the 
conclusions I had already drawn, struck 
me with the force of positive 
conformation, and I then finally made 
up my mind to the course which I 
afterwards pursued.

"It was late when I reached home, and I 
went immediately to bed. My mind, 
however, was too much occupied to 
sleep, and I lay the whole night buried 
in meditation. Arising early in the 
morning, and contriving again to escape 
the vigilance of my creditors, I 
repaired eagerly to the bookseller's 
stall, and laid out what little ready 
money I possessed, in the purchase of 
some volumes of Mechanics and Practical 
Astronomy. Having arrived at home 
safely with these, I devoted every 
spare moment to their perusal, and soon 
made such proficiency in studies of 
this nature as I thought sufficient for 
the execution of my plan. In the 
intervals of this period, I made every 
endeavor to conciliate the three 
creditors who had given me so much 
annoyance. In this I finally 
succeeded--partly by selling enough of 
my household furniture to satisfy a 
moiety of their claim, and partly by a 
promise of paying the balance upon 
completion of a little project which I 
told them I had in view, and for 
assistance in which I solicited their 
services. By these means--for they were 
ignorant men--I found little difficulty 
in gaining them over to my purpose.

"Matters being thus arranged, I 
contrived, by the aid of my wife and 
with the greatest secrecy and caution, 
to dispose of what property I had 
remaining, and to borrow, in small 
sums, under various pretences, and 
without paying any attention to my 
future means of repayment, no 
inconsiderable quantity of ready money. 
With the means thus accruing I 
proceeded to procure at intervals, 
cambric muslin, very fine, in pieces of 
twelve yards each; twine; a lot of the 
varnish of caoutchouc; a large and deep 
basket of wicker-work, made to order; 
and several other articles necessary in 
the construction and equipment of a 
balloon of extraordinary dimensions. 
This I directed my wife to make up as 
soon as possible, and gave her all 
requisite information as to the 
particular method of proceeding. In the 
meantime I worked up the twine into a 
net-work of sufficient dimensions; 
rigged it with a hoop and the necessary 
cords; bought a quadrant, a compass, a 
spy-glass, a common barometer with some 
important modifications, and two 
astronomical instruments not so 
generally known. I then took 
opportunities of conveying by night, to 
a retired situation east of Rotterdam, 
five iron-bound casks, to contain about 
fifty gallons each, and one of a larger 
size; six tinned ware tubes, three 
inches in diameter, properly shaped, 
and ten feet in length; a quantity of a 
particular metallic substance, or 
semi-metal, which I shall not name, and 
a dozen demijohns of a very common 
acid. The gas to be formed from these 
latter materials is a gas never yet 
generated by any other person than 
myself--or at least never applied to 
any similar purpose. The secret I would 
make no difficulty in disclosing, but 
that it of right belongs to a citizen 
of Nantz, in France, by whom it was 
conditionally communicated to myself. 
The same individual submitted to me, 
without being at all aware of my 
intentions, a method of constructing 
balloons from the membrane of a certain 
animal, through which substance any 
escape of gas was nearly an 
impossibility. I found it, however, 
altogether too expensive, and was not 
sure, upon the whole, whether cambric 
muslin with a coating of gum 
caoutchouc, was not equally as good. I 
mention this circumstance, because I 
think it probable that hereafter the 
individual in question may attempt a 
balloon ascension with the novel gas 
and material I have spoken of, and I do 
not wish to deprive him of the honor of 
a very singular invention.

"On the spot which I intended each of 
the smaller casks to occupy 
respectively during the inflation of 
the balloon, I privately dug a hole two 
feet deep; the holes forming in this 
manner a circle twenty-five feet in 
diameter. In the centre of this circle, 
being the station designed for the 
large cask, I also dug a hole three 
feet in depth. In each of the five 
smaller holes, I deposited a canister 
containing fifty pounds, and in the 
larger one a keg holding one hundred 
and fifty pounds, of cannon powder. 
These--the keg and canisters--I 
connected in a proper manner with 
covered trains; and having let into one 
of the canisters the end of about four 
feet of slow match, I covered up the 
hole, and placed the cask over it, 
leaving the other end of the match 
protruding about an inch, and barely 
visible beyond the cask. I then filled 
up the remaining holes, and placed the 
barrels over them in their destined 
situation.

"Besides the articles above enumerated, 
I conveyed to the depot, and there 
secreted, one of M. Grimm's 
improvements upon the apparatus for 
condensation of the atmospheric air. I 
found this machine, however, to require 
considerable alteration before it could 
be adapted to the purposes to which I 
intended making it applicable. But, 
with severe labor and unremitting 
perseverance, I at length met with 
entire success in all my preparations. 
My balloon was soon completed. It would 
contain more than forty thousand cubic 
feet of gas; would take me up easily, I 
calculated, with all my implements, 
and, if I managed rightly, with one 
hundred and seventy-five pounds of 
ballast into the bargain. It had 
received three coats of varnish, and I 
found the cambric muslin to answer all 
the purposes of silk itself, quite as 
strong and a good deal less expensive.

"Everything being now ready, I exacted 
from my wife an oath of secrecy in 
relation to all my actions from the day 
of my first visit to the bookseller's 
stall; and promising, on my part, to 
return as soon as circumstances would 
permit, I gave her what little money I 
had left, and bade her farewell. Indeed 
I had no fear on her account. She was 
what people call a notable woman, and 
could manage matters in the world 
without my assistance. I believe, to 
tell the truth, she always looked upon 
me as an idle boy, a mere make-weight, 
good for nothing but building castles 
in the air, and was rather glad to get 
rid of me. It was a dark night when I 
bade her good-bye, and taking with me, 
as aides-de-camp, the three creditors 
who had given me so much trouble, we 
carried the balloon, with the car and 
accoutrements, by a roundabout way, to 
the station where the other articles 
were deposited. We there found them all 
unmolested, and I proceeded immediately 
to business.

"It was the first of April. The night, 
as I said before, was dark; there was 
not a star to be seen; and a drizzling 
rain, falling at intervals, rendered us 
very uncomfortable. But my chief 
anxiety was concerning the balloon, 
which, in spite of the varnish with 
which it was defended, began to grow 
rather heavy with the moisture; the 
powder also was liable to damage. I 
therefore kept my three duns working 
with great diligence, pounding down ice 
around the central cask, and stirring 
the acid in the others. They did not 
cease, however, importuning me with 
questions as to what I intended to do 
with all this apparatus, and expressed 
much dissatisfaction at the terrible 
labor I made them undergo. They could 
not perceive, so they said, what good 
was likely to result from their getting 
wet to the skin, merely to take a part 
in such horrible incantations. I began 
to get uneasy, and worked away with all 
my might, for I verily believe the 
idiots supposed that I had entered into 
a compact with the devil, and that, in 
short, what I was now doing was nothing 
better than it should be. I was, 
therefore, in great fear of their 
leaving me altogether. I contrived, 
however, to pacify them by promises of 
payment of all scores in full, as soon 
as I could bring the present business 
to a termination. To these speeches 
they gave, of course, their own 
interpretation; fancying, no doubt, 
that at all events I should come into 
possession of vast quantities of ready 
money; and provided I paid them all I 
owed, and a trifle more, in 
consideration of their services, I dare 
say they cared very little what became 
of either my soul or my carcass.

"In about four hours and a half I found 
the balloon sufficiently inflated. I 
attached the car, therefore, and put 
all my implements in it--not forgetting 
the condensing apparatus, a copious 
supply of water, and a large quantity 
of provisions, such as pemmican, in 
which much nutriment is contained in 
comparatively little bulk. I also 
secured in the car a pair of pigeons 
and a cat. It was now nearly daybreak, 
and I thought it high time to take my 
departure. Dropping a lighted cigar on 
the ground, as if by accident, I took 
the opportunity, in stooping to pick it 
up, of igniting privately the piece of 
slow match, whose end, as I said 
before, protruded a very little beyond 
the lower rim of one of the smaller 
casks. This manoeuvre was totally 
unperceived on the part of the three 
duns; and, jumping into the car, I 
immediately cut the single cord which 
held me to the earth, and was pleased 
to find that I shot upward, carrying 
with all ease one hundred and 
seventy-five pounds of leaden ballast, 
and able to have carried up as many 
more.

"Scarcely, however, had I attained the 
height of fifty yards, when, roaring 
and rumbling up after me in the most 
horrible and tumultuous manner, came so 
dense a hurricane of fire, and smoke, 
and sulphur, and legs and arms, and 
gravel, and burning wood, and blazing 
metal, that my very heart sunk within 
me, and I fell down in the bottom of 
the car, trembling with unmitigated 
terror. Indeed, I now perceived that I 
had entirely overdone the business, and 
that the main consequences of the shock 
were yet to be experienced. 
Accordingly, in less than a second, I 
felt all the blood in my body rushing 
to my temples, and immediately 
thereupon, a concussion, which I shall 
never forget, burst abruptly through 
the night and seemed to rip the very 
firmament asunder. When I afterward had 
time for reflection, I did not fail to 
attribute the extreme violence of the 
explosion, as regarded myself, to its 
proper cause--my situation directly 
above it, and in the line of its 
greatest power. But at the time, I 
thought only of preserving my life. The 
balloon at first collapsed, then 
furiously expanded, then whirled round 
and round with horrible velocity, and 
finally, reeling and staggering like a 
drunken man, hurled me with great force 
over the rim of the car, and left me 
dangling, at a terrific height, with my 
head downward, and my face outwards, by 
a piece of slender cord about three 
feet in length, which hung accidentally 
through a crevice near the bottom of 
the wicker-work, and in which, as I 
fell, my left foot became most 
providentially entangled. It is 
impossible--utterly impossible--to form 
any adequate idea of the horror of my 
situation. I gasped convulsively for 
breath--a shudder resembling a fit of 
the ague agitated every nerve and 
muscle of my frame--I felt my eyes 
starting from their sockets--a horrible 
nausea overwhelmed me--and at length I 
fainted away.

"How long I remained in this state it 
is impossible to say. It must, however, 
have been no inconsiderable time, for 
when I partially recovered the sense of 
existence, I found the day breaking, 
the balloon at a prodigious height over 
a wilderness of ocean, and not a trace 
of land to be discovered far and wide 
within the limits of the vast horizon. 
My sensations, however, upon thus 
recovering, were by no means so rife 
with agony as might have been 
anticipated. Indeed, there was much of 
incipient madness in the calm survey 
which I began to take of my situation. 
I drew up to my eyes each of my hands, 
one after the other, and wondered what 
occurrence could have given rise to the 
swelling of the veins, and the horrible 
blackness of the fingernails. I 
afterward carefully examined my head, 
shaking it repeatedly, and feeling it 
with minute attention, until I 
succeeded in satisfying myself that it 
was not, as I had more than half 
suspected, larger than my balloon. 
Then, in a knowing manner, I felt in 
both my breeches pockets, and, missing 
therefrom a set of tablets and a 
toothpick case, endeavored to account 
for their disappearance, and not being 
able to do so, felt inexpressibly 
chagrined. It now occurred to me that I 
suffered great uneasiness in the joint 
of my left ankle, and a dim 
consciousness of my situation began to 
glimmer through my mind. But, strange 
to say! I was neither astonished nor 
horror-stricken. If I felt any emotion 
at all, it was a kind of chuckling 
satisfaction at the cleverness I was 
about to display in extricating myself 
from this dilemma; and I never, for a 
moment, looked upon my ultimate safety 
as a question susceptible of doubt. For 
a few minutes I remained wrapped in the 
profoundest meditation. I have a 
distinct recollection of frequently 
compressing my lips, putting my 
forefinger to the side of my nose, and 
making use of other gesticulations and 
grimaces common to men who, at ease in 
their arm-chairs, meditate upon matters 
of intricacy or importance. Having, as 
I thought, sufficiently collected my 
ideas, I now, with great caution and 
deliberation, put my hands behind my 
back, and unfastened the large iron 
buckle which belonged to the waistband 
of my inexpressibles. This buckle had 
three teeth, which, being somewhat 
rusty, turned with great difficulty on 
their axis. I brought them, however, 
after some trouble, at right angles to 
the body of the buckle, and was glad to 
find them remain firm in that position. 
Holding the instrument thus obtained 
within my teeth, I now proceeded to 
untie the knot of my cravat. I had to 
rest several times before I could 
accomplish this manoeuvre, but it was 
at length accomplished. To one end of 
the cravat I then made fast the buckle, 
and the other end I tied, for greater 
security, tightly around my wrist. 
Drawing now my body upwards, with a 
prodigious exertion of muscular force, 
I succeeded, at the very first trial, 
in throwing the buckle over the car, 
and entangling it, as I had 
anticipated, in the circular rim of the 
wicker-work.

"My body was now inclined towards the 
side of the car, at an angle of about 
forty-five degrees; but it must not be 
understood that I was therefore only 
forty-five degrees below the 
perpendicular. So far from it, I still 
lay nearly level with the plane of the 
horizon; for the change of situation 
which I had acquired, had forced the 
bottom of the car considerably outwards 
from my position, which was accordingly 
one of the most imminent and deadly 
peril. It should be remembered, 
however, that when I fell in the first 
instance, from the car, if I had fallen 
with my face turned toward the balloon, 
instead of turned outwardly from it, as 
it actually was; or if, in the second 
place, the cord by which I was 
suspended had chanced to hang over the 
upper edge, instead of through a 
crevice near the bottom of the car,--I 
say it may be readily conceived that, 
in either of these supposed cases, I 
should have been unable to accomplish 
even as much as I had now accomplished, 
and the wonderful adventures of Hans 
Pfaall would have been utterly lost to 
posterity, I had therefore every reason 
to be grateful; although, in point of 
fact, I was still too stupid to be 
anything at all, and hung for, perhaps, 
a quarter of an hour in that 
extraordinary manner, without making 
the slightest farther exertion 
whatsoever, and in a singularly 
tranquil state of idiotic enjoyment. 
But this feeling did not fail to die 
rapidly away, and thereunto succeeded 
horror, and dismay, and a chilling 
sense of utter helplessness and ruin. 
In fact, the blood so long accumulating 
in the vessels of my head and throat, 
and which had hitherto buoyed up my 
spirits with madness and delirium, had 
now begun to retire within their proper 
channels, and the distinctness which 
was thus added to my perception of the 
danger, merely served to deprive me of 
the self-possession and courage to 
encounter it. But this weakness was, 
luckily for me, of no very long 
duration. In good time came to my 
rescue the spirit of despair, and, with 
frantic cries and struggles, I jerked 
my way bodily upwards, till at length, 
clutching with a vise-like grip the 
long-desired rim, I writhed my person 
over it, and fell headlong and 
shuddering within the car.

"It was not until some time afterward 
that I recovered myself sufficiently to 
attend to the ordinary cares of the 
balloon. I then, however, examined it 
with attention, and found it, to my 
great relief, uninjured. My implements 
were all safe, and, fortunately, I had 
lost neither ballast nor provisions. 
Indeed, I had so well secured them in 
their places, that such an accident was 
entirely out of the question. Looking 
at my watch, I found it six o'clock. I 
was still rapidly ascending, and my 
barometer gave a present altitude of 
three and three-quarter miles. 
Immediately beneath me in the ocean, 
lay a small black object, slightly 
oblong in shape, seemingly about the 
size, and in every way bearing a great 
resemblance to one of those childish 
toys called a domino. Bringing my 
telescope to bear upon it, I plainly 
discerned it to be a British ninety 
four-gun ship, close-hauled, and 
pitching heavily in the sea with her 
head to the W.S.W. Besides this ship, I 
saw nothing but the ocean and the sky, 
and the sun, which had long arisen.

"It is now high time that I should 
explain to your Excellencies the object 
of my perilous voyage. Your 
Excellencies will bear in mind that 
distressed circumstances in Rotterdam 
had at length driven me to the 
resolution of committing suicide. It 
was not, however, that to life itself I 
had any, positive disgust, but that I 
was harassed beyond endurance by the 
adventitious miseries attending my 
situation. In this state of mind, 
wishing to live, yet wearied with life, 
the treatise at the stall of the 
bookseller opened a resource to my 
imagination. I then finally made up my 
mind. I determined to depart, yet 
live--to leave the world, yet continue 
to exist--in short, to drop enigmas, I 
resolved, let what would ensue, to 
force a passage, if I could, to the 
moon. Now, lest I should be supposed 
more of a madman than I actually am, I 
will detail, as well as I am able, the 
considerations which led me to believe 
that an achievement of this nature, 
although without doubt difficult, and 
incontestably full of danger, was not 
absolutely, to a bold spirit, beyond 
the confines of the possible.

"The moon's actual distance from the 
earth was the first thing to be 
attended to. Now, the mean or average 
interval between the centres of the two 
planets is 59.9643 of the earth's 
equatorial radii, or only about 237,000 
miles. I say the mean or average 
interval. But it must be borne in mind 
that the form of the moon's orbit being 
an ellipse of eccentricity amounting to 
no less than 0.05484 of the major 
semi-axis of the ellipse itself, and 
the earth's centre being situated in 
its focus, if I could, in any manner, 
contrive to meet the moon, as it were, 
in its perigee, the above mentioned 
distance would be materially 
diminished. But, to say nothing at 
present of this possibility, it was 
very certain that, at all events, from 
the 237,000 miles I would have to 
deduct the radius of the earth, say 
4,000, and the radius of the moon, say 
1080, in all 5,080, leaving an actual 
interval to be traversed, under average 
circumstances, of 231,920 miles. Now 
this, I reflected, was no very 
extraordinary distance. Travelling on 
land has been repeatedly accomplished 
at the rate of thirty miles per hour, 
and indeed a much greater speed may be 
anticipated. But even at this velocity, 
it would take me no more than 322 days 
to reach the surface of the moon. There 
were, however, many particulars 
inducing me to believe that my average 
rate of travelling might possibly very 
much exceed that of thirty miles per 
hour, and, as these considerations did 
not fail to make a deep impression upon 
my mind, I will mention them more fully 
hereafter.

"The next point to be regarded was a 
matter of far greater importance. From 
indications afforded by the barometer, 
we find that, in ascensions from the 
surface of the earth we have, at the 
height of 1,000 feet, left below us 
about one-thirtieth of the entire mass 
of atmospheric air, that at 10,600 we 
have ascended through nearly one-third; 
and that at 18,000, which is not far 
from the elevation of Cotopaxi, we have 
surmounted one-half the material, or, 
at all events, one-half the ponderable, 
body of air incumbent upon our globe. 
It is also calculated that at an 
altitude not exceeding the hundredth 
part of the earth's diameter--that is, 
not exceeding eighty miles--the 
rarefaction would be so excessive that 
animal life could in no manner be 
sustained, and, moreover, that the most 
delicate means we possess of 
ascertaining the presence of the 
atmosphere would be inadequate to 
assure us of its existence. But I did 
not fail to perceive that these latter 
calculations are founded altogether on 
our experimental knowledge of the 
properties of air, and the mechanical 
laws regulating its dilation and 
compression, in what may be called, 
comparatively speaking, the immediate 
vicinity of the earth itself; and, at 
the same time, it is taken for granted 
that animal life is and must be 
essentially incapable of modification 
at any given unattainable distance from 
the surface. Now, all such reasoning 
and from such data must, of course, be 
simply analogical. The greatest height 
ever reached by man was that of 25,000 
feet, attained in the aeronautic 
expedition of Messieurs Gay-Lussac and 
Biot. This is a moderate altitude, even 
when compared with the eighty miles in 
question; and I could not help thinking 
that the subject admitted room for 
doubt and great latitude for 
speculation.

"But, in point of fact, an ascension 
being made to any given altitude, the 
ponderable quantity of air surmounted 
in any farther ascension is by no means 
in proportion to the additional height 
ascended (as may be plainly seen from 
what has been stated before), but in a 
ratio constantly decreasing. It is 
therefore evident that, ascend as high 
as we may, we cannot, literally 
speaking, arrive at a limit beyond 
which no atmosphere is to be found. It 
must exist, I argued; although it may 
exist in a state of infinite 
rarefaction.

"On the other hand, I was aware that 
arguments have not been wanting to 
prove the existence of a real and 
definite limit to the atmosphere, 
beyond which there is absolutely no air 
whatsoever. But a circumstance which 
has been left out of view by those who 
contend for such a limit seemed to me, 
although no positive refutation of 
their creed, still a point worthy very 
serious investigation. On comparing the 
intervals between the successive 
arrivals of Encke's comet at its 
perihelion, after giving credit, in the 
most exact manner, for all the 
disturbances due to the attractions of 
the planets, it appears that the 
periods are gradually diminishing; that 
is to say, the major axis of the 
comet's ellipse is growing shorter, in 
a slow but perfectly regular decrease. 
Now, this is precisely what ought to be 
the case, if we suppose a resistance 
experienced from the comet from an 
extremely rare ethereal medium 
pervading the regions of its orbit. For 
it is evident that such a medium must, 
in retarding the comet's velocity, 
increase its centripetal, by weakening 
its centrifugal force. In other words, 
the sun's attraction would be 
constantly attaining greater power, and 
the comet would be drawn nearer at 
every revolution. Indeed, there is no 
other way of accounting for the 
variation in question. But again. The 
real diameter of the same comet's 
nebulosity is observed to contract 
rapidly as it approaches the sun, and 
dilate with equal rapidity in its 
departure towards its aphelion. Was I 
not justifiable in supposing with M. 
Valz, that this apparent condensation 
of volume has its origin in the 
compression of the same ethereal medium 
I have spoken of before, and which is 
only denser in proportion to its solar 
vicinity? The lenticular-shaped 
phenomenon, also called the zodiacal 
light, was a matter worthy of 
attention. This radiance, so apparent 
in the tropics, and which cannot be 
mistaken for any meteoric lustre, 
extends from the horizon obliquely 
upward, and follows generally the 
direction of the sun's equator. It 
appeared to me evidently in the nature 
of a rare atmosphere extending from the 
sun outward, beyond the orbit of Venus 
at least, and I believed indefinitely 
farther.(*2) Indeed, this medium I 
could not suppose confined to the path 
of the comet's ellipse, or to the 
immediate neighborhood of the sun. It 
was easy, on the contrary, to imagine 
it pervading the entire regions of our 
planetary system, condensed into what 
we call atmosphere at the planets 
themselves, and perhaps at some of them 
modified by considerations, so to 
speak, purely geological.

"Having adopted this view of the 
subject, I had little further 
hesitation. Granting that on my passage 
I should meet with atmosphere 
essentially the same as at the surface 
of the earth, I conceived that, by 
means of the very ingenious apparatus 
of M. Grimm, I should readily be 
enabled to condense it in sufficient 
quantity for the purposes of 
respiration. This would remove the 
chief obstacle in a journey to the 
moon. I had indeed spent some money and 
great labor in adapting the apparatus 
to the object intended, and confidently 
looked forward to its successful 
application, if I could manage to 
complete the voyage within any 
reasonable period. This brings me back 
to the rate at which it might be 
possible to travel.

"It is true that balloons, in the first 
stage of their ascensions from the 
earth, are known to rise with a 
velocity comparatively moderate. Now, 
the power of elevation lies altogether 
in the superior lightness of the gas in 
the balloon compared with the 
atmospheric air; and, at first sight, 
it does not appear probable that, as 
the balloon acquires altitude, and 
consequently arrives successively in 
atmospheric strata of densities rapidly 
diminishing--I say, it does not appear 
at all reasonable that, in this its 
progress upwards, the original velocity 
should be accelerated. On the other 
hand, I was not aware that, in any 
recorded ascension, a diminution was 
apparent in the absolute rate of 
ascent; although such should have been 
the case, if on account of nothing 
else, on account of the escape of gas 
through balloons ill-constructed, and 
varnished with no better material than 
the ordinary varnish. It seemed, 
therefore, that the effect of such 
escape was only sufficient to 
counterbalance the effect of some 
accelerating power. I now considered 
that, provided in my passage I found 
the medium I had imagined, and provided 
that it should prove to be actually and 
essentially what we denominate 
atmospheric air, it could make 
comparatively little difference at what 
extreme state of rarefaction I should 
discover it--that is to say, in regard 
to my power of ascending--for the gas 
in the balloon would not only be itself 
subject to rarefaction partially 
similar (in proportion to the 
occurrence of which, I could suffer an 
escape of so much as would be requisite 
to prevent explosion), but, being what 
it was, would, at all events, continue 
specifically lighter than any compound 
whatever of mere nitrogen and oxygen. 
In the meantime, the force of 
gravitation would be constantly 
diminishing, in proportion to the 
squares of the distances, and thus, 
with a velocity prodigiously 
accelerating, I should at length arrive 
in those distant regions where the 
force of the earth's attraction would 
be superseded by that of the moon. In 
accordance with these ideas, I did not 
think it worth while to encumber myself 
with more provisions than would be 
sufficient for a period of forty days.

"There was still, however, another 
difficulty, which occasioned me some 
little disquietude. It has been 
observed, that, in balloon ascensions 
to any considerable height, besides the 
pain attending respiration, great 
uneasiness is experienced about the 
head and body, often accompanied with 
bleeding at the nose, and other 
symptoms of an alarming kind, and 
growing more and more inconvenient in 
proportion to the altitude 
attained.(*3) This was a reflection of 
a nature somewhat startling. Was it not 
probable that these symptoms would 
increase indefinitely, or at least 
until terminated by death itself? I 
finally thought not. Their origin was 
to be looked for in the progressive 
removal of the customary atmospheric 
pressure upon the surface of the body, 
and consequent distention of the 
superficial blood-vessels--not in any 
positive disorganization of the animal 
system, as in the case of difficulty in 
breathing, where the atmospheric 
density is chemically insufficient for 
the due renovation of blood in a 
ventricle of the heart. Unless for 
default of this renovation, I could see 
no reason, therefore, why life could 
not be sustained even in a vacuum; for 
the expansion and compression of chest, 
commonly called breathing, is action 
purely muscular, and the cause, not the 
effect, of respiration. In a word, I 
conceived that, as the body should 
become habituated to the want of 
atmospheric pressure, the sensations of 
pain would gradually diminish--and to 
endure them while they continued, I 
relied with confidence upon the iron 
hardihood of my constitution.

"Thus, may it please your Excellencies, 
I have detailed some, though by no 
means all, the considerations which led 
me to form the project of a lunar 
voyage. I shall now proceed to lay 
before you the result of an attempt so 
apparently audacious in conception, 
and, at all events, so utterly 
unparalleled in the annals of mankind.

"Having attained the altitude before 
mentioned, that is to say three miles 
and three-quarters, I threw out from 
the car a quantity of feathers, and 
found that I still ascended with 
sufficient rapidity; there was, 
therefore, no necessity for discharging 
any ballast. I was glad of this, for I 
wished to retain with me as much weight 
as I could carry, for reasons which 
will be explained in the sequel. I as 
yet suffered no bodily inconvenience, 
breathing with great freedom, and 
feeling no pain whatever in the head. 
The cat was lying very demurely upon my 
coat, which I had taken off, and eyeing 
the pigeons with an air of nonchalance. 
These latter being tied by the leg, to 
prevent their escape, were busily 
employed in picking up some grains of 
rice scattered for them in the bottom 
of the car.

"At twenty minutes past six o'clock, 
the barometer showed an elevation of 
26,400 feet, or five miles to a 
fraction. The prospect seemed 
unbounded. Indeed, it is very easily 
calculated by means of spherical 
geometry, what a great extent of the 
earth's area I beheld. The convex 
surface of any segment of a sphere is, 
to the entire surface of the sphere 
itself, as the versed sine of the 
segment to the diameter of the sphere. 
Now, in my case, the versed sine--that 
is to say, the thickness of the segment 
beneath me--was about equal to my 
elevation, or the elevation of the 
point of sight above the surface. 'As 
five miles, then, to eight thousand,' 
would express the proportion of the 
earth's area seen by me. In other 
words, I beheld as much as a 
sixteen-hundredth part of the whole 
surface of the globe. The sea appeared 
unruffled as a mirror, although, by 
means of the spy-glass, I could 
perceive it to be in a state of violent 
agitation. The ship was no longer 
visible, having drifted away, 
apparently to the eastward. I now began 
to experience, at intervals, severe 
pain in the head, especially about the 
ears--still, however, breathing with 
tolerable freedom. The cat and pigeons 
seemed to suffer no inconvenience 
whatsoever.

"At twenty minutes before seven, the 
balloon entered a long series of dense 
cloud, which put me to great trouble, 
by damaging my condensing apparatus and 
wetting me to the skin. This was, to be 
sure, a singular recontre, for I had 
not believed it possible that a cloud 
of this nature could be sustained at so 
great an elevation. I thought it best, 
however, to throw out two five-pound 
pieces of ballast, reserving still a 
weight of one hundred and sixty-five 
pounds. Upon so doing, I soon rose 
above the difficulty, and perceived 
immediately, that I had obtained a 
great increase in my rate of ascent. In 
a few seconds after my leaving the 
cloud, a flash of vivid lightning shot 
from one end of it to the other, and 
caused it to kindle up, throughout its 
vast extent, like a mass of ignited and 
glowing charcoal. This, it must be 
remembered, was in the broad light of 
day. No fancy may picture the sublimity 
which might have been exhibited by a 
similar phenomenon taking place amid 
the darkness of the night. Hell itself 
might have been found a fitting image. 
Even as it was, my hair stood on end, 
while I gazed afar down within the 
yawning abysses, letting imagination 
descend, as it were, and stalk about in 
the strange vaulted halls, and ruddy 
gulfs, and red ghastly chasms of the 
hideous and unfathomable fire. I had 
indeed made a narrow escape. Had the 
balloon remained a very short while 
longer within the cloud--that is to 
say--had not the inconvenience of 
getting wet, determined me to discharge 
the ballast, inevitable ruin would have 
been the consequence. Such perils, 
although little considered, are perhaps 
the greatest which must be encountered 
in balloons. I had by this time, 
however, attained too great an 
elevation to be any longer uneasy on 
this head.

"I was now rising rapidly, and by seven 
o'clock the barometer indicated an 
altitude of no less than nine miles and 
a half. I began to find great 
difficulty in drawing my breath. My 
head, too, was excessively painful; 
and, having felt for some time a 
moisture about my cheeks, I at length 
discovered it to be blood, which was 
oozing quite fast from the drums of my 
ears. My eyes, also, gave me great 
uneasiness. Upon passing the hand over 
them they seemed to have protruded from 
their sockets in no inconsiderable 
degree; and all objects in the car, and 
even the balloon itself, appeared 
distorted to my vision. These symptoms 
were more than I had expected, and 
occasioned me some alarm. At this 
juncture, very imprudently, and without 
consideration, I threw out from the car 
three five-pound pieces of ballast. The 
accelerated rate of ascent thus 
obtained, carried me too rapidly, and 
without sufficient gradation, into a 
highly rarefied stratum of the 
atmosphere, and the result had nearly 
proved fatal to my expedition and to 
myself. I was suddenly seized with a 
spasm which lasted for more than five 
minutes, and even when this, in a 
measure, ceased, I could catch my 
breath only at long intervals, and in a 
gasping manner--bleeding all the while 
copiously at the nose and ears, and 
even slightly at the eyes. The pigeons 
appeared distressed in the extreme, and 
struggled to escape; while the cat 
mewed piteously, and, with her tongue 
hanging out of her mouth, staggered to 
and fro in the car as if under the 
influence of poison. I now too late 
discovered the great rashness of which 
I had been guilty in discharging the 
ballast, and my agitation was 
excessive. I anticipated nothing less 
than death, and death in a few minutes. 
The physical suffering I underwent 
contributed also to render me nearly 
incapable of making any exertion for 
the preservation of my life. I had, 
indeed, little power of reflection 
left, and the violence of the pain in 
my head seemed to be greatly on the 
increase. Thus I found that my senses 
would shortly give way altogether, and 
I had already clutched one of the valve 
ropes with the view of attempting a 
descent, when the recollection of the 
trick I had played the three creditors, 
and the possible consequences to 
myself, should I return, operated to 
deter me for the moment. I lay down in 
the bottom of the car, and endeavored 
to collect my faculties. In this I so 
far succeeded as to determine upon the 
experiment of losing blood. Having no 
lancet, however, I was constrained to 
perform the operation in the best 
manner I was able, and finally 
succeeded in opening a vein in my right 
arm, with the blade of my penknife. The 
blood had hardly commenced flowing when 
I experienced a sensible relief, and by 
the time I had lost about half a 
moderate basin full, most of the worst 
symptoms had abandoned me entirely. I 
nevertheless did not think it expedient 
to attempt getting on my feet 
immediately; but, having tied up my arm 
as well as I could, I lay still for 
about a quarter of an hour. At the end 
of this time I arose, and found myself 
freer from absolute pain of any kind 
than I had been during the last hour 
and a quarter of my ascension. The 
difficulty of breathing, however, was 
diminished in a very slight degree, and 
I found that it would soon be 
positively necessary to make use of my 
condenser. In the meantime, looking 
toward the cat, who was again snugly 
stowed away upon my coat, I discovered 
to my infinite surprise, that she had 
taken the opportunity of my 
indisposition to bring into light a 
litter of three little kittens. This 
was an addition to the number of 
passengers on my part altogether 
unexpected; but I was pleased at the 
occurrence. It would afford me a chance 
of bringing to a kind of test the truth 
of a surmise, which, more than anything 
else, had influenced me in attempting 
this ascension. I had imagined that the 
habitual endurance of the atmospheric 
pressure at the surface of the earth 
was the cause, or nearly so, of the 
pain attending animal existence at a 
distance above the surface. Should the 
kittens be found to suffer uneasiness 
in an equal degree with their mother, I 
must consider my theory in fault, but a 
failure to do so I should look upon as 
a strong confirmation of my idea.

"By eight o'clock I had actually 
attained an elevation of seventeen 
miles above the surface of the earth. 
Thus it seemed to me evident that my 
rate of ascent was not only on the 
increase, but that the progression 
would have been apparent in a slight 
degree even had I not discharged the 
ballast which I did. The pains in my 
head and ears returned, at intervals, 
with violence, and I still continued to 
bleed occasionally at the nose; but, 
upon the whole, I suffered much less 
than might have been expected. I 
breathed, however, at every moment, 
with more and more difficulty, and each 
inhalation was attended with a 
troublesome spasmodic action of the 
chest. I now unpacked the condensing 
apparatus, and got it ready for 
immediate use.

"The view of the earth, at this period 
of my ascension, was beautiful indeed. 
To the westward, the northward, and the 
southward, as far as I could see, lay a 
boundless sheet of apparently unruffled 
ocean, which every moment gained a 
deeper and a deeper tint of blue and 
began already to assume a slight 
appearance of convexity. At a vast 
distance to the eastward, although 
perfectly discernible, extended the 
islands of Great Britain, the entire 
Atlantic coasts of France and Spain, 
with a small portion of the northern 
part of the continent of Africa. Of 
individual edifices not a trace could 
be discovered, and the proudest cities 
of mankind had utterly faded away from 
the face of the earth. From the rock of 
Gibraltar, now dwindled into a dim 
speck, the dark Mediterranean sea, 
dotted with shining islands as the 
heaven is dotted with stars, spread 
itself out to the eastward as far as my 
vision extended, until its entire mass 
of waters seemed at length to tumble 
headlong over the abyss of the horizon, 
and I found myself listening on tiptoe 
for the echoes of the mighty cataract. 
Overhead, the sky was of a jetty black, 
and the stars were brilliantly visible.

"The pigeons about this time seeming to 
undergo much suffering, I determined 
upon giving them their liberty. I first 
untied one of them, a beautiful 
gray-mottled pigeon, and placed him 
upon the rim of the wicker-work. He 
appeared extremely uneasy, looking 
anxiously around him, fluttering his 
wings, and making a loud cooing noise, 
but could not be persuaded to trust 
himself from off the car. I took him up 
at last, and threw him to about half a 
dozen yards from the balloon. He made, 
however, no attempt to descend as I had 
expected, but struggled with great 
vehemence to get back, uttering at the 
same time very shrill and piercing 
cries. He at length succeeded in 
regaining his former station on the 
rim, but had hardly done so when his 
head dropped upon his breast, and he 
fell dead within the car. The other one 
did not prove so unfortunate. To 
prevent his following the example of 
his companion, and accomplishing a 
return, I threw him downward with all 
my force, and was pleased to find him 
continue his descent, with great 
velocity, making use of his wings with 
ease, and in a perfectly natural 
manner. In a very short time he was out 
of sight, and I have no doubt he 
reached home in safety. Puss, who 
seemed in a great measure recovered 
from her illness, now made a hearty 
meal of the dead bird and then went to 
sleep with much apparent satisfaction. 
Her kittens were quite lively, and so 
far evinced not the slightest sign of 
any uneasiness whatever.

"At a quarter-past eight, being no 
longer able to draw breath without the 
most intolerable pain, I proceeded 
forthwith to adjust around the car the 
apparatus belonging to the condenser. 
This apparatus will require some little 
explanation, and your Excellencies will 
please to bear in mind that my object, 
in the first place, was to surround 
myself and cat entirely with a 
barricade against the highly rarefied 
atmosphere in which I was existing, 
with the intention of introducing 
within this barricade, by means of my 
condenser, a quantity of this same 
atmosphere sufficiently condensed for 
the purposes of respiration. With this 
object in view I had prepared a very 
strong perfectly air-tight, but 
flexible gum-elastic bag. In this bag, 
which was of sufficient dimensions, the 
entire car was in a manner placed. That 
is to say, it (the bag) was drawn over 
the whole bottom of the car, up its 
sides, and so on, along the outside of 
the ropes, to the upper rim or hoop 
where the net-work is attached. Having 
pulled the bag up in this way, and 
formed a complete enclosure on all 
sides, and at bottom, it was now 
necessary to fasten up its top or 
mouth, by passing its material over the 
hoop of the net-work--in other words, 
between the net-work and the hoop. But 
if the net-work were separated from the 
hoop to admit this passage, what was to 
sustain the car in the meantime? Now 
the net-work was not permanently 
fastened to the hoop, but attached by a 
series of running loops or nooses. I 
therefore undid only a few of these 
loops at one time, leaving the car 
suspended by the remainder. Having thus 
inserted a portion of the cloth forming 
the upper part of the bag, I refastened 
the loops--not to the hoop, for that 
would have been impossible, since the 
cloth now intervened--but to a series 
of large buttons, affixed to the cloth 
itself, about three feet below the 
mouth of the bag, the intervals between 
the buttons having been made to 
correspond to the intervals between the 
loops. This done, a few more of the 
loops were unfastened from the rim, a 
farther portion of the cloth 
introduced, and the disengaged loops 
then connected with their proper 
buttons. In this way it was possible to 
insert the whole upper part of the bag 
between the net-work and the hoop. It 
is evident that the hoop would now drop 
down within the car, while the whole 
weight of the car itself, with all its 
contents, would be held up merely by 
the strength of the buttons. This, at 
first sight, would seem an inadequate 
dependence; but it was by no means so, 
for the buttons were not only very 
strong in themselves, but so close 
together that a very slight portion of 
the whole weight was supported by any 
one of them. Indeed, had the car and 
contents been three times heavier than 
they were, I should not have been at 
all uneasy. I now raised up the hoop 
again within the covering of 
gum-elastic, and propped it at nearly 
its former height by means of three 
light poles prepared for the occasion. 
This was done, of course, to keep the 
bag distended at the top, and to 
preserve the lower part of the net-work 
in its proper situation. All that now 
remained was to fasten up the mouth of 
the enclosure; and this was readily 
accomplished by gathering the folds of 
the material together, and twisting 
them up very tightly on the inside by 
means of a kind of stationary 
tourniquet.

"In the sides of the covering thus 
adjusted round the car, had been 
inserted three circular panes of thick 
but clear glass, through which I could 
see without difficulty around me in 
every horizontal direction. In that 
portion of the cloth forming the 
bottom, was likewise, a fourth window, 
of the same kind, and corresponding 
with a small aperture in the floor of 
the car itself. This enabled me to see 
perpendicularly down, but having found 
it impossible to place any similar 
contrivance overhead, on account of the 
peculiar manner of closing up the 
opening there, and the consequent 
wrinkles in the cloth, I could expect 
to see no objects situated directly in 
my zenith. This, of course, was a 
matter of little consequence; for had I 
even been able to place a window at 
top, the balloon itself would have 
prevented my making any use of it.

"About a foot below one of the side 
windows was a circular opening, eight 
inches in diameter, and fitted with a 
brass rim adapted in its inner edge to 
the windings of a screw. In this rim 
was screwed the large tube of the 
condenser, the body of the machine 
being, of course, within the chamber of 
gum-elastic. Through this tube a 
quantity of the rare atmosphere 
circumjacent being drawn by means of a 
vacuum created in the body of the 
machine, was thence discharged, in a 
state of condensation, to mingle with 
the thin air already in the chamber. 
This operation being repeated several 
times, at length filled the chamber 
with atmosphere proper for all the 
purposes of respiration. But in so 
confined a space it would, in a short 
time, necessarily become foul, and 
unfit for use from frequent contact 
with the lungs. It was then ejected by 
a small valve at the bottom of the 
car--the dense air readily sinking into 
the thinner atmosphere below. To avoid 
the inconvenience of making a total 
vacuum at any moment within the 
chamber, this purification was never 
accomplished all at once, but in a 
gradual manner--the valve being opened 
only for a few seconds, then closed 
again, until one or two strokes from 
the pump of the condenser had supplied 
the place of the atmosphere ejected. 
For the sake of experiment I had put 
the cat and kittens in a small basket, 
and suspended it outside the car to a 
button at the bottom, close by the 
valve, through which I could feed them 
at any moment when necessary. I did 
this at some little risk, and before 
closing the mouth of the chamber, by 
reaching under the car with one of the 
poles before mentioned to which a hook 
had been attached.

"By the time I had fully completed 
these arrangements and filled the 
chamber as explained, it wanted only 
ten minutes of nine o'clock. During the 
whole period of my being thus employed, 
I endured the most terrible distress 
from difficulty of respiration, and 
bitterly did I repent the negligence or 
rather fool-hardiness, of which I had 
been guilty, of putting off to the last 
moment a matter of so much importance. 
But having at length accomplished it, I 
soon began to reap the benefit of my 
invention. Once again I breathed with 
perfect freedom and ease--and indeed 
why should I not? I was also agreeably 
surprised to find myself, in a great 
measure, relieved from the violent 
pains which had hitherto tormented me. 
A slight headache, accompanied with a 
sensation of fulness or distention 
about the wrists, the ankles, and the 
throat, was nearly all of which I had 
now to complain. Thus it seemed evident 
that a greater part of the uneasiness 
attending the removal of atmospheric 
pressure had actually worn off, as I 
had expected, and that much of the pain 
endured for the last two hours should 
have been attributed altogether to the 
effects of a deficient respiration.

"At twenty minutes before nine 
o'clock--that is to say, a short time 
prior to my closing up the mouth of the 
chamber, the mercury attained its 
limit, or ran down, in the barometer, 
which, as I mentioned before, was one 
of an extended construction. It then 
indicated an altitude on my part of 
132,000 feet, or five-and-twenty miles, 
and I consequently surveyed at that 
time an extent of the earth's area 
amounting to no less than the three 
hundred-and-twentieth part of its 
entire superficies. At nine o'clock I 
had again lost sight of land to the 
eastward, but not before I became aware 
that the balloon was drifting rapidly 
to the N. N. W. The convexity of the 
ocean beneath me was very evident 
indeed, although my view was often 
interrupted by the masses of cloud 
which floated to and fro. I observed 
now that even the lightest vapors never 
rose to more than ten miles above the 
level of the sea.

"At half past nine I tried the 
experiment of throwing out a handful of 
feathers through the valve. They did 
not float as I had expected; but 
dropped down perpendicularly, like a 
bullet, en masse, and with the greatest 
velocity--being out of sight in a very 
few seconds. I did not at first know 
what to make of this extraordinary 
phenomenon; not being able to believe 
that my rate of ascent had, of a 
sudden, met with so prodigious an 
acceleration. But it soon occurred to 
me that the atmosphere was now far too 
rare to sustain even the feathers; that 
they actually fell, as they appeared to 
do, with great rapidity; and that I had 
been surprised by the united velocities 
of their descent and my own elevation.

"By ten o'clock I found that I had very 
little to occupy my immediate 
attention. Affairs went swimmingly, and 
I believed the balloon to be going 
upward with a speed increasing momently 
although I had no longer any means of 
ascertaining the progression of the 
increase. I suffered no pain or 
uneasiness of any kind, and enjoyed 
better spirits than I had at any period 
since my departure from Rotterdam, 
busying myself now in examining the 
state of my various apparatus, and now 
in regenerating the atmosphere within 
the chamber. This latter point I 
determined to attend to at regular 
intervals of forty minutes, more on 
account of the preservation of my 
health, than from so frequent a 
renovation being absolutely necessary. 
In the meanwhile I could not help 
making anticipations. Fancy revelled in 
the wild and dreamy regions of the 
moon. Imagination, feeling herself for 
once unshackled, roamed at will among 
the ever-changing wonders of a shadowy 
and unstable land. Now there were hoary 
and time-honored forests, and craggy 
precipices, and waterfalls tumbling 
with a loud noise into abysses without 
a bottom. Then I came suddenly into 
still noonday solitudes, where no wind 
of heaven ever intruded, and where vast 
meadows of poppies, and slender, 
lily-looking flowers spread themselves 
out a weary distance, all silent and 
motionless forever. Then again I 
journeyed far down away into another 
country where it was all one dim and 
vague lake, with a boundary line of 
clouds. And out of this melancholy 
water arose a forest of tall eastern 
trees, like a wilderness of dreams. And 
I have in mind that the shadows of the 
trees which fell upon the lake remained 
not on the surface where they fell, but 
sunk slowly and steadily down, and 
commingled with the waves, while from 
the trunks of the trees other shadows 
were continually coming out, and taking 
the place of their brothers thus 
entombed. "This then," I said 
thoughtfully, "is the very reason why 
the waters of this lake grow blacker 
with age, and more melancholy as the 
hours run on." But fancies such as 
these were not the sole possessors of 
my brain. Horrors of a nature most 
stern and most appalling would too 
frequently obtrude themselves upon my 
mind, and shake the innermost depths of 
my soul with the bare supposition of 
their possibility. Yet I would not 
suffer my thoughts for any length of 
time to dwell upon these latter 
speculations, rightly judging the real 
and palpable dangers of the voyage 
sufficient for my undivided attention.

"At five o'clock, p.m., being engaged 
in regenerating the atmosphere within 
the chamber, I took that opportunity of 
observing the cat and kittens through 
the valve. The cat herself appeared to 
suffer again very much, and I had no 
hesitation in attributing her 
uneasiness chiefly to a difficulty in 
breathing; but my experiment with the 
kittens had resulted very strangely. I 
had expected, of course, to see them 
betray a sense of pain, although in a 
less degree than their mother, and this 
would have been sufficient to confirm 
my opinion concerning the habitual 
endurance of atmospheric pressure. But 
I was not prepared to find them, upon 
close examination, evidently enjoying a 
high degree of health, breathing with 
the greatest ease and perfect 
regularity, and evincing not the 
slightest sign of any uneasiness 
whatever. I could only account for all 
this by extending my theory, and 
supposing that the highly rarefied 
atmosphere around might perhaps not be, 
as I had taken for granted, chemically 
insufficient for the purposes of life, 
and that a person born in such a medium 
might, possibly, be unaware of any 
inconvenience attending its inhalation, 
while, upon removal to the denser 
strata near the earth, he might endure 
tortures of a similar nature to those I 
had so lately experienced. It has since 
been to me a matter of deep regret that 
an awkward accident, at this time, 
occasioned me the loss of my little 
family of cats, and deprived me of the 
insight into this matter which a 
continued experiment might have 
afforded. In passing my hand through 
the valve, with a cup of water for the 
old puss, the sleeves of my shirt 
became entangled in the loop which 
sustained the basket, and thus, in a 
moment, loosened it from the bottom. 
Had the whole actually vanished into 
air, it could not have shot from my 
sight in a more abrupt and 
instantaneous manner. Positively, there 
could not have intervened the tenth 
part of a second between the 
disengagement of the basket and its 
absolute and total disappearance with 
all that it contained. My good wishes 
followed it to the earth, but of 
course, I had no hope that either cat 
or kittens would ever live to tell the 
tale of their misfortune.

"At six o'clock, I perceived a great 
portion of the earth's visible area to 
the eastward involved in thick shadow, 
which continued to advance with great 
rapidity, until, at five minutes before 
seven, the whole surface in view was 
enveloped in the darkness of night. It 
was not, however, until long after this 
time that the rays of the setting sun 
ceased to illumine the balloon; and 
this circumstance, although of course 
fully anticipated, did not fail to give 
me an infinite deal of pleasure. It was 
evident that, in the morning, I should 
behold the rising luminary many hours 
at least before the citizens of 
Rotterdam, in spite of their situation 
so much farther to the eastward, and 
thus, day after day, in proportion to 
the height ascended, would I enjoy the 
light of the sun for a longer and a 
longer period. I now determined to keep 
a journal of my passage, reckoning the 
days from one to twenty-four hours 
continuously, without taking into 
consideration the intervals of darkness.

"At ten o'clock, feeling sleepy, I 
determined to lie down for the rest of 
the night; but here a difficulty 
presented itself, which, obvious as it 
may appear, had escaped my attention up 
to the very moment of which I am now 
speaking. If I went to sleep as I 
proposed, how could the atmosphere in 
the chamber be regenerated in the 
interim? To breathe it for more than an 
hour, at the farthest, would be a 
matter of impossibility, or, if even 
this term could be extended to an hour 
and a quarter, the most ruinous 
consequences might ensue. The 
consideration of this dilemma gave me 
no little disquietude; and it will 
hardly be believed, that, after the 
dangers I had undergone, I should look 
upon this business in so serious a 
light, as to give up all hope of 
accomplishing my ultimate design, and 
finally make up my mind to the 
necessity of a descent. But this 
hesitation was only momentary. I 
reflected that man is the veriest slave 
of custom, and that many points in the 
routine of his existence are deemed 
essentially important, which are only 
so at all by his having rendered them 
habitual. It was very certain that I 
could not do without sleep; but I might 
easily bring myself to feel no 
inconvenience from being awakened at 
intervals of an hour during the whole 
period of my repose. It would require 
but five minutes at most to regenerate 
the atmosphere in the fullest manner, 
and the only real difficulty was to 
contrive a method of arousing myself at 
the proper moment for so doing. But 
this was a question which, I am willing 
to confess, occasioned me no little 
trouble in its solution. To be sure, I 
had heard of the student who, to 
prevent his falling asleep over his 
books, held in one hand a ball of 
copper, the din of whose descent into a 
basin of the same metal on the floor 
beside his chair, served effectually to 
startle him up, if, at any moment, he 
should be overcome with drowsiness. My 
own case, however, was very different 
indeed, and left me no room for any 
similar idea; for I did not wish to 
keep awake, but to be aroused from 
slumber at regular intervals of time. I 
at length hit upon the following 
expedient, which, simple as it may 
seem, was hailed by me, at the moment 
of discovery, as an invention fully 
equal to that of the telescope, the 
steam-engine, or the art of printing 
itself.

"It is necessary to premise, that the 
balloon, at the elevation now attained, 
continued its course upward with an 
even and undeviating ascent, and the 
car consequently followed with a 
steadiness so perfect that it would 
have been impossible to detect in it 
the slightest vacillation whatever. 
This circumstance favored me greatly in 
the project I now determined to adopt. 
My supply of water had been put on 
board in kegs containing five gallons 
each, and ranged very securely around 
the interior of the car. I unfastened 
one of these, and taking two ropes tied 
them tightly across the rim of the 
wicker-work from one side to the other; 
placing them about a foot apart and 
parallel so as to form a kind of shelf, 
upon which I placed the keg, and 
steadied it in a horizontal position. 
About eight inches immediately below 
these ropes, and four feet from the 
bottom of the car I fastened another 
shelf--but made of thin plank, being 
the only similar piece of wood I had. 
Upon this latter shelf, and exactly 
beneath one of the rims of the keg, a 
small earthern pitcher was deposited. I 
now bored a hole in the end of the keg 
over the pitcher, and fitted in a plug 
of soft wood, cut in a tapering or 
conical shape. This plug I pushed in or 
pulled out, as might happen, until, 
after a few experiments, it arrived at 
that exact degree of tightness, at 
which the water, oozing from the hole, 
and falling into the pitcher below, 
would fill the latter to the brim in 
the period of sixty minutes. This, of 
course, was a matter briefly and easily 
ascertained, by noticing the proportion 
of the pitcher filled in any given 
time. Having arranged all this, the 
rest of the plan is obvious. My bed was 
so contrived upon the floor of the car, 
as to bring my head, in lying down, 
immediately below the mouth of the 
pitcher. It was evident, that, at the 
expiration of an hour, the pitcher, 
getting full, would be forced to run 
over, and to run over at the mouth, 
which was somewhat lower than the rim. 
It was also evident, that the water 
thus falling from a height of more than 
four feet, could not do otherwise than 
fall upon my face, and that the sure 
consequences would be, to waken me up 
instantaneously, even from the soundest 
slumber in the world.

"It was fully eleven by the time I had 
completed these arrangements, and I 
immediately betook myself to bed, with 
full confidence in the efficiency of my 
invention. Nor in this matter was I 
disappointed. Punctually every sixty 
minutes was I aroused by my trusty 
chronometer, when, having emptied the 
pitcher into the bung-hole of the keg, 
and performed the duties of the 
condenser, I retired again to bed. 
These regular interruptions to my 
slumber caused me even less discomfort 
than I had anticipated; and when I 
finally arose for the day, it was seven 
o'clock, and the sun had attained many 
degrees above the line of my horizon.

"April 3d. I found the balloon at an 
immense height indeed, and the earth's 
apparent convexity increased in a 
material degree. Below me in the ocean 
lay a cluster of black specks, which 
undoubtedly were islands. Far away to 
the northward I perceived a thin, 
white, and exceedingly brilliant line, 
or streak, on the edge of the horizon, 
and I had no hesitation in supposing it 
to be the southern disk of the ices of 
the Polar Sea. My curiosity was greatly 
excited, for I had hopes of passing on 
much farther to the north, and might 
possibly, at some period, find myself 
placed directly above the Pole itself. 
I now lamented that my great elevation 
would, in this case, prevent my taking 
as accurate a survey as I could wish. 
Much, however, might be ascertained. 
Nothing else of an extraordinary nature 
occurred during the day. My apparatus 
all continued in good order, and the 
balloon still ascended without any 
perceptible vacillation. The cold was 
intense, and obliged me to wrap up 
closely in an overcoat. When darkness 
came over the earth, I betook myself to 
bed, although it was for many hours 
afterward broad daylight all around my 
immediate situation. The water-clock 
was punctual in its duty, and I slept 
until next morning soundly, with the 
exception of the periodical 
interruption.

"April 4th. Arose in good health and 
spirits, and was astonished at the 
singular change which had taken place 
in the appearance of the sea. It had 
lost, in a great measure, the deep tint 
of blue it had hitherto worn, being now 
of a grayish-white, and of a lustre 
dazzling to the eye. The islands were 
no longer visible; whether they had 
passed down the horizon to the 
southeast, or whether my increasing 
elevation had left them out of sight, 
it is impossible to say. I was 
inclined, however, to the latter 
opinion. The rim of ice to the 
northward was growing more and more 
apparent. Cold by no means so intense. 
Nothing of importance occurred, and I 
passed the day in reading, having taken 
care to supply myself with books.

"April 5th. Beheld the singular 
phenomenon of the sun rising while 
nearly the whole visible surface of the 
earth continued to be involved in 
darkness. In time, however, the light 
spread itself over all, and I again saw 
the line of ice to the northward. It 
was now very distinct, and appeared of 
a much darker hue than the waters of 
the ocean. I was evidently approaching 
it, and with great rapidity. Fancied I 
could again distinguish a strip of land 
to the eastward, and one also to the 
westward, but could not be certain. 
Weather moderate. Nothing of any 
consequence happened during the day. 
Went early to bed.

"April 6th. Was surprised at finding 
the rim of ice at a very moderate 
distance, and an immense field of the 
same material stretching away off to 
the horizon in the north. It was 
evident that if the balloon held its 
present course, it would soon arrive 
above the Frozen Ocean, and I had now 
little doubt of ultimately seeing the 
Pole. During the whole of the day I 
continued to near the ice. Toward night 
the limits of my horizon very suddenly 
and materially increased, owing 
undoubtedly to the earth's form being 
that of an oblate spheroid, and my 
arriving above the flattened regions in 
the vicinity of the Arctic circle. When 
darkness at length overtook me, I went 
to bed in great anxiety, fearing to 
pass over the object of so much 
curiosity when I should have no 
opportunity of observing it.

"April 7th. Arose early, and, to my 
great joy, at length beheld what there 
could be no hesitation in supposing the 
northern Pole itself. It was there, 
beyond a doubt, and immediately beneath 
my feet; but, alas! I had now ascended 
to so vast a distance, that nothing 
could with accuracy be discerned. 
Indeed, to judge from the progression 
of the numbers indicating my various 
altitudes, respectively, at different 
periods, between six A.M. on the second 
of April, and twenty minutes before 
nine A.M. of the same day (at which 
time the barometer ran down), it might 
be fairly inferred that the balloon had 
now, at four o'clock in the morning of 
April the seventh, reached a height of 
not less, certainly, than 7,254 miles 
above the surface of the sea. This 
elevation may appear immense, but the 
estimate upon which it is calculated 
gave a result in all probability far 
inferior to the truth. At all events I 
undoubtedly beheld the whole of the 
earth's major diameter; the entire 
northern hemisphere lay beneath me like 
a chart orthographically projected: and 
the great circle of the equator itself 
formed the boundary line of my horizon. 
Your Excellencies may, however, readily 
imagine that the confined regions 
hitherto unexplored within the limits 
of the Arctic circle, although situated 
directly beneath me, and therefore seen 
without any appearance of being 
foreshortened, were still, in 
themselves, comparatively too 
diminutive, and at too great a distance 
from the point of sight, to admit of 
any very accurate examination. 
Nevertheless, what could be seen was of 
a nature singular and exciting. 
Northwardly from that huge rim before 
mentioned, and which, with slight 
qualification, may be called the limit 
of human discovery in these regions, 
one unbroken, or nearly unbroken, sheet 
of ice continues to extend. In the 
first few degrees of this its progress, 
its surface is very sensibly flattened, 
farther on depressed into a plane, and 
finally, becoming not a little concave, 
it terminates, at the Pole itself, in a 
circular centre, sharply defined, whose 
apparent diameter subtended at the 
balloon an angle of about sixty-five 
seconds, and whose dusky hue, varying 
in intensity, was, at all times, darker 
than any other spot upon the visible 
hemisphere, and occasionally deepened 
into the most absolute and impenetrable 
blackness. Farther than this, little 
could be ascertained. By twelve o'clock 
the circular centre had materially 
decreased in circumference, and by 
seven P.M. I lost sight of it entirely; 
the balloon passing over the western 
limb of the ice, and floating away 
rapidly in the direction of the equator.

"April 8th. Found a sensible diminution 
in the earth's apparent diameter, 
besides a material alteration in its 
general color and appearance. The whole 
visible area partook in different 
degrees of a tint of pale yellow, and 
in some portions had acquired a 
brilliancy even painful to the eye. My 
view downward was also considerably 
impeded by the dense atmosphere in the 
vicinity of the surface being loaded 
with clouds, between whose masses I 
could only now and then obtain a 
glimpse of the earth itself. This 
difficulty of direct vision had 
troubled me more or less for the last 
forty-eight hours; but my present 
enormous elevation brought closer 
together, as it were, the floating 
bodies of vapor, and the inconvenience 
became, of course, more and more 
palpable in proportion to my ascent. 
Nevertheless, I could easily perceive 
that the balloon now hovered above the 
range of great lakes in the continent 
of North America, and was holding a 
course, due south, which would bring me 
to the tropics. This circumstance did 
not fail to give me the most heartful 
satisfaction, and I hailed it as a 
happy omen of ultimate success. Indeed, 
the direction I had hitherto taken, had 
filled me with uneasiness; for it was 
evident that, had I continued it much 
longer, there would have been no 
possibility of my arriving at the moon 
at all, whose orbit is inclined to the 
ecliptic at only the small angle of 5 
degrees 8' 48".

"April 9th. To-day the earth's diameter 
was greatly diminished, and the color 
of the surface assumed hourly a deeper 
tint of yellow. The balloon kept 
steadily on her course to the 
southward, and arrived, at nine P.M., 
over the northern edge of the Mexican 
Gulf.

"April 10th. I was suddenly aroused 
from slumber, about five o'clock this 
morning, by a loud, crackling, and 
terrific sound, for which I could in no 
manner account. It was of very brief 
duration, but, while it lasted 
resembled nothing in the world of which 
I had any previous experience. It is 
needless to say that I became 
excessively alarmed, having, in the 
first instance, attributed the noise to 
the bursting of the balloon. I examined 
all my apparatus, however, with great 
attention, and could discover nothing 
out of order. Spent a great part of the 
day in meditating upon an occurrence so 
extraordinary, but could find no means 
whatever of accounting for it. Went to 
bed dissatisfied, and in a state of 
great anxiety and agitation.

"April 11th. Found a startling 
diminution in the apparent diameter of 
the earth, and a considerable increase, 
now observable for the first time, in 
that of the moon itself, which wanted 
only a few days of being full. It now 
required long and excessive labor to 
condense within the chamber sufficient 
atmospheric air for the sustenance of 
life.

"April 12th. A singular alteration took 
place in regard to the direction of the 
balloon, and although fully 
anticipated, afforded me the most 
unequivocal delight. Having reached, in 
its former course, about the twentieth 
parallel of southern latitude, it 
turned off suddenly, at an acute angle, 
to the eastward, and thus proceeded 
throughout the day, keeping nearly, if 
not altogether, in the exact plane of 
the lunar elipse. What was worthy of 
remark, a very perceptible vacillation 
in the car was a consequence of this 
change of route--a vacillation which 
prevailed, in a more or less degree, 
for a period of many hours.

"April 13th. Was again very much 
alarmed by a repetition of the loud, 
crackling noise which terrified me on 
the tenth. Thought long upon the 
subject, but was unable to form any 
satisfactory conclusion. Great decrease 
in the earth's apparent diameter, which 
now subtended from the balloon an angle 
of very little more than twenty-five 
degrees. The moon could not be seen at 
all, being nearly in my zenith. I still 
continued in the plane of the elipse, 
but made little progress to the 
eastward.

"April 14th. Extremely rapid decrease 
in the diameter of the earth. To-day I 
became strongly impressed with the 
idea, that the balloon was now actually 
running up the line of apsides to the 
point of perigee--in other words, 
holding the direct course which would 
bring it immediately to the moon in 
that part of its orbit the nearest to 
the earth. The moon itself was directly 
overhead, and consequently hidden from 
my view. Great and long-continued labor 
necessary for the condensation of the 
atmosphere.

"April 15th. Not even the outlines of 
continents and seas could now be traced 
upon the earth with anything 
approaching distinctness. About twelve 
o'clock I became aware, for the third 
time, of that appalling sound which had 
so astonished me before. It now, 
however, continued for some moments, 
and gathered intensity as it continued. 
At length, while, stupefied and 
terror-stricken, I stood in expectation 
of I knew not what hideous destruction, 
the car vibrated with excessive 
violence, and a gigantic and flaming 
mass of some material which I could not 
distinguish, came with a voice of a 
thousand thunders, roaring and booming 
by the balloon. When my fears and 
astonishment had in some degree 
subsided, I had little difficulty in 
supposing it to be some mighty volcanic 
fragment ejected from that world to 
which I was so rapidly approaching, 
and, in all probability, one of that 
singular class of substances 
occasionally picked up on the earth, 
and termed meteoric stones for want of 
a better appellation.

"April 16th. To-day, looking upward as 
well as I could, through each of the 
side windows alternately, I beheld, to 
my great delight, a very small portion 
of the moon's disk protruding, as it 
were, on all sides beyond the huge 
circumference of the balloon. My 
agitation was extreme; for I had now 
little doubt of soon reaching the end 
of my perilous voyage. Indeed, the 
labor now required by the condenser had 
increased to a most oppressive degree, 
and allowed me scarcely any respite 
from exertion. Sleep was a matter 
nearly out of the question. I became 
quite ill, and my frame trembled with 
exhaustion. It was impossible that 
human nature could endure this state of 
intense suffering much longer. During 
the now brief interval of darkness a 
meteoric stone again passed in my 
vicinity, and the frequency of these 
phenomena began to occasion me much 
apprehension.

"April 17th. This morning proved an 
epoch in my voyage. It will be 
remembered that, on the thirteenth, the 
earth subtended an angular breadth of 
twenty-five degrees. On the fourteenth 
this had greatly diminished; on the 
fifteenth a still more remarkable 
decrease was observable; and, on 
retiring on the night of the sixteenth, 
I had noticed an angle of no more than 
about seven degrees and fifteen 
minutes. What, therefore, must have 
been my amazement, on awakening from a 
brief and disturbed slumber, on the 
morning of this day, the seventeenth, 
at finding the surface beneath me so 
suddenly and wonderfully augmented in 
volume, as to subtend no less than 
thirty-nine degrees in apparent angular 
diameter! I was thunderstruck! No words 
can give any adequate idea of the 
extreme, the absolute horror and 
astonishment, with which I was seized 
possessed, and altogether overwhelmed. 
My knees tottered beneath me--my teeth 
chattered--my hair started up on end. 
"The balloon, then, had actually 
burst!" These were the first tumultuous 
ideas that hurried through my mind: 
"The balloon had positively burst!--I 
was falling--falling with the most 
impetuous, the most unparalleled 
velocity! To judge by the immense 
distance already so quickly passed 
over, it could not be more than ten 
minutes, at the farthest, before I 
should meet the surface of the earth, 
and be hurled into annihilation!" But 
at length reflection came to my relief. 
I paused; I considered; and I began to 
doubt. The matter was impossible. I 
could not in any reason have so rapidly 
come down. Besides, although I was 
evidently approaching the surface below 
me, it was with a speed by no means 
commensurate with the velocity I had at 
first so horribly conceived. This 
consideration served to calm the 
perturbation of my mind, and I finally 
succeeded in regarding the phenomenon 
in its proper point of view. In fact, 
amazement must have fairly deprived me 
of my senses, when I could not see the 
vast difference, in appearance, between 
the surface below me, and the surface 
of my mother earth. The latter was 
indeed over my head, and completely 
hidden by the balloon, while the 
moon--the moon itself in all its 
glory--lay beneath me, and at my feet.

"The stupor and surprise produced in my 
mind by this extraordinary change in 
the posture of affairs was perhaps, 
after all, that part of the adventure 
least susceptible of explanation. For 
the bouleversement in itself was not 
only natural and inevitable, but had 
been long actually anticipated as a 
circumstance to be expected whenever I 
should arrive at that exact point of my 
voyage where the attraction of the 
planet should be superseded by the 
attraction of the satellite--or, more 
precisely, where the gravitation of the 
balloon toward the earth should be less 
powerful than its gravitation toward 
the moon. To be sure I arose from a 
sound slumber, with all my senses in 
confusion, to the contemplation of a 
very startling phenomenon, and one 
which, although expected, was not 
expected at the moment. The revolution 
itself must, of course, have taken 
place in an easy and gradual manner, 
and it is by no means clear that, had I 
even been awake at the time of the 
occurrence, I should have been made 
aware of it by any internal evidence of 
an inversion--that is to say, by any 
inconvenience or disarrangement, either 
about my person or about my apparatus.

"It is almost needless to say that, 
upon coming to a due sense of my 
situation, and emerging from the terror 
which had absorbed every faculty of my 
soul, my attention was, in the first 
place, wholly directed to the 
contemplation of the general physical 
appearance of the moon. It lay beneath 
me like a chart--and although I judged 
it to be still at no inconsiderable 
distance, the indentures of its surface 
were defined to my vision with a most 
striking and altogether unaccountable 
distinctness. The entire absence of 
ocean or sea, and indeed of any lake or 
river, or body of water whatsoever, 
struck me, at first glance, as the most 
extraordinary feature in its geological 
condition. Yet, strange to say, I 
beheld vast level regions of a 
character decidedly alluvial, although 
by far the greater portion of the 
hemisphere in sight was covered with 
innumerable volcanic mountains, conical 
in shape, and having more the 
appearance of artificial than of 
natural protuberance. The highest among 
them does not exceed three and 
three-quarter miles in perpendicular 
elevation; but a map of the volcanic 
districts of the Campi Phlegraei would 
afford to your Excellencies a better 
idea of their general surface than any 
unworthy description I might think 
proper to attempt. The greater part of 
them were in a state of evident 
eruption, and gave me fearfully to 
understand their fury and their power, 
by the repeated thunders of the 
miscalled meteoric stones, which now 
rushed upward by the balloon with a 
frequency more and more appalling.

"April 18th. To-day I found an enormous 
increase in the moon's apparent 
bulk--and the evidently accelerated 
velocity of my descent began to fill me 
with alarm. It will be remembered, 
that, in the earliest stage of my 
speculations upon the possibility of a 
passage to the moon, the existence, in 
its vicinity, of an atmosphere, dense 
in proportion to the bulk of the 
planet, had entered largely into my 
calculations; this too in spite of many 
theories to the contrary, and, it may 
be added, in spite of a general 
disbelief in the existence of any lunar 
atmosphere at all. But, in addition to 
what I have already urged in regard to 
Encke's comet and the zodiacal light, I 
had been strengthened in my opinion by 
certain observations of Mr. Schroeter, 
of Lilienthal. He observed the moon 
when two days and a half old, in the 
evening soon after sunset, before the 
dark part was visible, and continued to 
watch it until it became visible. The 
two cusps appeared tapering in a very 
sharp faint prolongation, each 
exhibiting its farthest extremity 
faintly illuminated by the solar rays, 
before any part of the dark hemisphere 
was visible. Soon afterward, the whole 
dark limb became illuminated. This 
prolongation of the cusps beyond the 
semicircle, I thought, must have arisen 
from the refraction of the sun's rays 
by the moon's atmosphere. I computed, 
also, the height of the atmosphere 
(which could refract light enough into 
its dark hemisphere to produce a 
twilight more luminous than the light 
reflected from the earth when the moon 
is about 32 degrees from the new) to be 
1,356 Paris feet; in this view, I 
supposed the greatest height capable of 
refracting the solar ray, to be 5,376 
feet. My ideas on this topic had also 
received confirmation by a passage in 
the eighty-second volume of the 
Philosophical Transactions, in which it 
is stated that at an occultation of 
Jupiter's satellites, the third 
disappeared after having been about 1" 
or 2" of time indistinct, and the 
fourth became indiscernible near the 
limb.(*4)

"Cassini frequently observed Saturn, 
Jupiter, and the fixed stars, when 
approaching the moon to occultation, to 
have their circular figure changed into 
an oval one; and, in other 
occultations, he found no alteration of 
figure at all. Hence it might be 
supposed, that at some times and not at 
others, there is a dense matter 
encompassing the moon wherein the rays 
of the stars are refracted.

"Upon the resistance or, more properly, 
upon the support of an atmosphere, 
existing in the state of density 
imagined, I had, of course, entirely 
depended for the safety of my ultimate 
descent. Should I then, after all, 
prove to have been mistaken, I had in 
consequence nothing better to expect, 
as a finale to my adventure, than being 
dashed into atoms against the rugged 
surface of the satellite. And, indeed, 
I had now every reason to be terrified. 
My distance from the moon was 
comparatively trifling, while the labor 
required by the condenser was 
diminished not at all, and I could 
discover no indication whatever of a 
decreasing rarity in the air.

"April 19th. This morning, to my great 
joy, about nine o'clock, the surface of 
the moon being frightfully near, and my 
apprehensions excited to the utmost, 
the pump of my condenser at length gave 
evident tokens of an alteration in the 
atmosphere. By ten, I had reason to 
believe its density considerably 
increased. By eleven, very little labor 
was necessary at the apparatus; and at 
twelve o'clock, with some hesitation, I 
ventured to unscrew the tourniquet, 
when, finding no inconvenience from 
having done so, I finally threw open 
the gum-elastic chamber, and unrigged 
it from around the car. As might have 
been expected, spasms and violent 
headache were the immediate 
consequences of an experiment so 
precipitate and full of danger. But 
these and other difficulties attending 
respiration, as they were by no means 
so great as to put me in peril of my 
life, I determined to endure as I best 
could, in consideration of my leaving 
them behind me momently in my approach 
to the denser strata near the moon. 
This approach, however, was still 
impetuous in the extreme; and it soon 
became alarmingly certain that, 
although I had probably not been 
deceived in the expectation of an 
atmosphere dense in proportion to the 
mass of the satellite, still I had been 
wrong in supposing this density, even 
at the surface, at all adequate to the 
support of the great weight contained 
in the car of my balloon. Yet this 
should have been the case, and in an 
equal degree as at the surface of the 
earth, the actual gravity of bodies at 
either planet supposed in the ratio of 
the atmospheric condensation. That it 
was not the case, however, my 
precipitous downfall gave testimony 
enough; why it was not so, can only be 
explained by a reference to those 
possible geological disturbances to 
which I have formerly alluded. At all 
events I was now close upon the planet, 
and coming down with the most terrible 
impetuosity. I lost not a moment, 
accordingly, in throwing overboard 
first my ballast, then my water-kegs, 
then my condensing apparatus and 
gum-elastic chamber, and finally every 
article within the car. But it was all 
to no purpose. I still fell with 
horrible rapidity, and was now not more 
than half a mile from the surface. As a 
last resource, therefore, having got 
rid of my coat, hat, and boots, I cut 
loose from the balloon the car itself, 
which was of no inconsiderable weight, 
and thus, clinging with both hands to 
the net-work, I had barely time to 
observe that the whole country, as far 
as the eye could reach, was thickly 
interspersed with diminutive 
habitations, ere I tumbled headlong 
into the very heart of a 
fantastical-looking city, and into the 
middle of a vast crowd of ugly little 
people, who none of them uttered a 
single syllable, or gave themselves the 
least trouble to render me assistance, 
but stood, like a parcel of idiots, 
grinning in a ludicrous manner, and 
eyeing me and my balloon askant, with 
their arms set a-kimbo. I turned from 
them in contempt, and, gazing upward at 
the earth so lately left, and left 
perhaps for ever, beheld it like a 
huge, dull, copper shield, about two 
degrees in diameter, fixed immovably in 
the heavens overhead, and tipped on one 
of its edges with a crescent border of 
the most brilliant gold. No traces of 
land or water could be discovered, and 
the whole was clouded with variable 
spots, and belted with tropical and 
equatorial zones.

"Thus, may it please your Excellencies, 
after a series of great anxieties, 
unheard of dangers, and unparalleled 
escapes, I had, at length, on the 
nineteenth day of my departure from 
Rotterdam, arrived in safety at the 
conclusion of a voyage undoubtedly the 
most extraordinary, and the most 
momentous, ever accomplished, 
undertaken, or conceived by any denizen 
of earth. But my adventures yet remain 
to be related. And indeed your 
Excellencies may well imagine that, 
after a residence of five years upon a 
planet not only deeply interesting in 
its own peculiar character, but 
rendered doubly so by its intimate 
connection, in capacity of satellite, 
with the world inhabited by man, I may 
have intelligence for the private ear 
of the States' College of Astronomers 
of far more importance than the 
details, however wonderful, of the mere 
voyage which so happily concluded. This 
is, in fact, the case. I have 
much--very much which it would give me 
the greatest pleasure to communicate. I 
have much to say of the climate of the 
planet; of its wonderful alternations 
of heat and cold, of unmitigated and 
burning sunshine for one fortnight, and 
more than polar frigidity for the next; 
of a constant transfer of moisture, by 
distillation like that in vacuo, from 
the point beneath the sun to the point 
the farthest from it; of a variable 
zone of running water, of the people 
themselves; of their manners, customs, 
and political institutions; of their 
peculiar physical construction; of 
their ugliness; of their want of ears, 
those useless appendages in an 
atmosphere so peculiarly modified; of 
their consequent ignorance of the use 
and properties of speech; of their 
substitute for speech in a singular 
method of inter-communication; of the 
incomprehensible connection between 
each particular individual in the moon 
with some particular individual on the 
earth--a connection analogous with, and 
depending upon, that of the orbs of the 
planet and the satellites, and by means 
of which the lives and destinies of the 
inhabitants of the one are interwoven 
with the lives and destinies of the 
inhabitants of the other; and above 
all, if it so please your 
Excellencies--above all, of those dark 
and hideous mysteries which lie in the 
outer regions of the moon--regions 
which, owing to the almost miraculous 
accordance of the satellite's rotation 
on its own axis with its sidereal 
revolution about the earth, have never 
yet been turned, and, by God's mercy, 
never shall be turned, to the scrutiny 
of the telescopes of man. All this, and 
more--much more--would I most willingly 
detail. But, to be brief, I must have 
my reward. I am pining for a return to 
my family and to my home, and as the 
price of any farther communication on 
my part--in consideration of the light 
which I have it in my power to throw 
upon many very important branches of 
physical and metaphysical science--I 
must solicit, through the influence of 
your honorable body, a pardon for the 
crime of which I have been guilty in 
the death of the creditors upon my 
departure from Rotterdam. This, then, 
is the object of the present paper. Its 
bearer, an inhabitant of the moon, whom 
I have prevailed upon, and properly 
instructed, to be my messenger to the 
earth, will await your Excellencies' 
pleasure, and return to me with the 
pardon in question, if it can, in any 
manner, be obtained.

"I have the honor to be, etc., your 
Excellencies' very humble servant,

"HANS PFAALL."

Upon finishing the perusal of this very 
extraordinary document, Professor 
Rub-a-dub, it is said, dropped his pipe 
upon the ground in the extremity of his 
surprise, and Mynheer Superbus Von 
Underduk having taken off his 
spectacles, wiped them, and deposited 
them in his pocket, so far forgot both 
himself and his dignity, as to turn 
round three times upon his heel in the 
quintessence of astonishment and 
admiration. There was no doubt about 
the matter--the pardon should be 
obtained. So at least swore, with a 
round oath, Professor Rub-a-dub, and so 
finally thought the illustrious Von 
Underduk, as he took the arm of his 
brother in science, and without saying 
a word, began to make the best of his 
way home to deliberate upon the 
measures to be adopted. Having reached 
the door, however, of the burgomaster's 
dwelling, the professor ventured to 
suggest that as the messenger had 
thought proper to disappear--no doubt 
frightened to death by the savage 
appearance of the burghers of 
Rotterdam--the pardon would be of 
little use, as no one but a man of the 
moon would undertake a voyage to so 
vast a distance. To the truth of this 
observation the burgomaster assented, 
and the matter was therefore at an end. 
Not so, however, rumors and 
speculations. The letter, having been 
published, gave rise to a variety of 
gossip and opinion. Some of the 
over-wise even made themselves 
ridiculous by decrying the whole 
business; as nothing better than a 
hoax. But hoax, with these sort of 
people, is, I believe, a general term 
for all matters above their 
comprehension. For my part, I cannot 
conceive upon what data they have 
founded such an accusation. Let us see 
what they say:

Imprimus. That certain wags in 
Rotterdam have certain especial 
antipathies to certain burgomasters and 
astronomers.

Don't understand at all.

Secondly. That an odd little dwarf and 
bottle conjurer, both of whose ears, 
for some misdemeanor, have been cut off 
close to his head, has been missing for 
several days from the neighboring city 
of Bruges.

Well--what of that?

Thirdly. That the newspapers which were 
stuck all over the little balloon were 
newspapers of Holland, and therefore 
could not have been made in the moon. 
They were dirty papers--very dirty--and 
Gluck, the printer, would take his 
Bible oath to their having been printed 
in Rotterdam.

He was mistaken--undoubtedly--mistaken.

Fourthly, That Hans Pfaall himself, the 
drunken villain, and the three very 
idle gentlemen styled his creditors, 
were all seen, no longer than two or 
three days ago, in a tippling house in 
the suburbs, having just returned, with 
money in their pockets, from a trip 
beyond the sea.

Don't believe it--don't believe a word 
of it.

Lastly. That it is an opinion very 
generally received, or which ought to 
be generally received, that the College 
of Astronomers in the city of 
Rotterdam, as well as other colleges in 
all other parts of the world,--not to 
mention colleges and astronomers in 
general,--are, to say the least of the 
matter, not a whit better, nor greater, 
nor wiser than they ought to be. 

THE END