Works of Jules Verne/Five Weeks in a Balloon/Chapter 12
CHAPTER XII
CROSSING THE STRAITS
The air was clear, the wind was moderate, the "Victoria" mounted almost perpendicularly to a height of 1,500 feet, which was indicated by a depression of nearly two inches in the barometrical column.
At this elevation, a more decided current carried the balloon towards the southwest. What a magnificent panorama unfolded itself beneath the eyes of the travelers! The island of Zanzibar was in sight from end to end, and stood out in its rich coloring as upon a huge board; the fields presented an appearance of patchwork, and the large clumps of trees indicated the woods and coppices.
The inhabitants appeared like insects. The cheers and cries died away in the air by degrees, and the reports of the ship's guns vibrated only in the lower concavity of the balloon. "How splendid all that is!" cried Joe, breaking the silence for the first time.
No reply was vouchsafed. The doctor was occupied in observing the barometrical changes and taking note of the various details of the ascent. Kennedy stared at it and could not take it all in.
The sun added to the heat of the blow-pipe and increased the expansion of the gas. The "Victoria" reached a height of 2,500 feet. The Resolute now appeared like a small barque, and the African coast loomed in the west like an enormous line of foam.
"Why don't you speak?" said Joe.
"We are making observations," replied the doctor, as he turned his glass towards the continent.
"Well, I feel as if I must speak," said Joe.
"Fire away, Joe; talk as much as you like."
Joe therefore gave way to a tremendous string of exclamations. The "ohs," the "ahs," and the "good heavens" were something astonishing.
While they were crossing the sea, the doctor thought it better to maintain this elevation, as he could observe a greater extent of coast; the thermometer and the barometer, suspended in the interior of the half-opened tent, were almost incessantly consulted; a second barometer, placed outside, was for use during the night.
After two hours the "Victoria," impelled at a rate of a little over eight miles, neared the coast. The doctor determined to approach the earth; he moderated the flame of the blow-pipe, and soon the balloon descended to within 300 feet of the ground.
He perceived that he was just over Mrima, a name bestowed on this portion of the coast of Eastern Africa; thick lines of mango bushes lined the shore, their roots, lacerated by the Indian Ocean, were left plainly visible by the ebb-tide. The sand-hills, which formerly constituted the coast line, rose above the horizon, and Mount Nguru showed its head in the northwest.
The "Victoria " passed close to a village, which, from the map, the doctor pronounced to be Kaole. All the population assembled to utter yells of anger and fear as the travelers passed. Arrows were vainly directed against the air monster, which floated majestically above the reach of their futile fury.
The wind went round to the south, but the doctor was not disturbed by this; on the contrary, he was rather glad to follow the route traversed by Captains Burton and Speke.
Kennedy at last had become as loquacious as Joe, and they mutually exchanged remarks expressive of their admiration. "What is a diligence after this?" said one.
"Or a steamer?" said the other.
"Or a wretched railway?" rejoined Kennedy, "in which you pass through the country without seeing it."
"Give me a balloon," said Joe, "where you needn't stir, and nature takes the trouble to unroll herself at your feet."
"What a magnificent prospect! how splendid it all is! like a beautiful dream in a hammock."
"I wonder if we are to have any breakfast," said Joe, to whom the pure air had given an appetite.
"Happy thought, my lad," said Kennedy.
"Oh! the cooking won't take long; it is only biscuits and preserved meat."
"With as much coffee as you like," added the doctor. "Allow me to borrow a little heat from my blow-pipe; there is plenty of it. In this way we shall have no fear of fire."
"That would be terrible," said Kennedy. "It is like sitting under a magazine."
"Not at all," said Ferguson; "if the gas did happen to take light it would burn by degrees, but we should come down to the ground, which would be inconvenient. But never fear, our balloon is hermetically sealed."
"Well, let us have something to eat," said Kennedy.
"Here you are, gentlemen," said Joe; "and while I follow your example in eating I will go and prepare a coffee of which you shall tell me the origin."
"The fact is," said the doctor, "that Joe, amongst a thousand virtues, has an extraordinary talent for preparing this delicious beverage. He makes it of all kinds of things which he never wishes me to know anything about."
"Well, sir, since we are in the open air, I can confide my recipe to you. It is, in fact, a mixture of equal parts of Mocha, Bourbon, and Rio Nunez."
Shortly afterwards three steaming cups were served, which brought a substantial breakfast to a termination, and each one resumed his post of observation.
The country was distinguished by its extreme fertility. Winding and narrow pathways were hidden by arches of verdure. They passed over fields of tobacco, maize and barley in full growth. Here and there immense rice-fields with their straight stalks and ruddy flowers. Sheep and goats were enclosed in raised pens, to preserve them from the attacks of leopards. A luxurious vegetation displayed itself upon this prodigal soil. In the numerous villages the cries and the astonishment were renewed at the sight of the "Victoria," and Doctor Ferguson kept prudently out of reach of arrows; the inhabitants, assembling around their thickly-grouped huts, pursued the travelers for long distances with vain yells and imprecations.
At noon, the doctor, referring to the map, was of opinion that they were above the town of Uzaramo. The country bristled with cocoa-nut, papaw, and cotton trees, over which the "Victoria" idly disported itself. Joe took all this as a matter of course, ever since he had made up his mind to come to Africa. Kennedy descried hares and quails, which desired no better fate than to be killed by his gun, but it would have been powder wasted, as it was impossible to recover the game.
The travelers moved at the rate of about twelve miles an hour, and soon found themselves in 38° 20' longitude, over the village of Tounda. "That is the place," said the doctor, "where Burton and Speke succumbed to fever, and for a time believed their expedition must be given up. They were as yet but a little distance from the coast, but already fatigue and privation began to tell upon them."
In fact, in this region a perpetual malaria exists. Even the doctor could only escape its attacks by rising in the balloon above the miasma, which the burning sun caused to rise from the swampy earth.
Sometimes they could perceive a caravan reposing in a "kraal," waiting for the cool hours of evening to resume their journey. These "kraals" stand in large cleared spaces surrounded by hedges and jungle, where the traders are secure, not only from the attacks of wild beasts, but from those of the pillaging native tribes. The natives fled in every direction at the appearance of the "Victoria." Kennedy wished to have a nearer view, but the doctor would not hear of it.
"The chiefs are armed with muskets," he said, "and our balloon is too good a shot for them."
"Would a bullet-hole bring the balloon down?" asked Joe.
"Not immediately; but the aperture would soon extend to an immense fissure, through which all our gas would escape."
"Then I vote we keep at a respectful distance from those wretches. I wonder what they think of us up here. I am sure they want to worship us?"
"Let them worship us as much as they please at a distance. That pleases us all round. Look here, the country is already changing, villages are fewer, the mangoes have disappeared; their growth ceases in this latitude. The land is hilly, a sign we are approaching mountains. In fact," said Kennedy, "I fancy I can descry some mountains this side of us."
"In the west—those are the first chain of the Ourizara—Mount Duthumi, no doubt, behind which I hope we shall encamp for the night. I will stir up the blow-pipe a little, for we shall be obliged to rise here to about 500 or 600 feet."
"That is a first-rate idea of yours, sir," said Joe; "the movement is neither difficult nor fatiguing; just turn a tap, and it is all done."
"We shall be more comfortable," said Kennedy, "when the balloon is higher up; the reflection from that red sand is very trying."
"What splendid trees those are!" exclaimed Joe; "though quite natural, they are magnificent. Why, a dozen of them would make a forest!"
"They are the 'baobab,'" replied Doctor Ferguson. See, one of their trunks must be almost 100 feet in circumference. It was, perhaps, at the trunk of that very tree that the unfortunate Frenchman, Maizan, was murdered in 1845, for we are just above the village of Deje la Mhora, whither he penetrated alone. He was captured by the chief of this territory, tied to the foot of the tree, and then the savage negro cut him slowly limb from limb, while he chanted a war-song. Then, making a deep incision in his victim's throat, he stopped to sharpen his knife, and literally tore the half-severed head from the body of the unfortunate Frenchman. He was only twenty-six."
"And did not France demand satisfaction for such a crime?" asked Kennedy.
"France did so, and the Said of Zanzibar did all he could to arrest the murderer, but without success."
"I hope I shall not be stopped in that way," said Joe.
"Up higher, sir, if you have any regard for me."
"And the more willingly, Joe, that Mount Duthumi is peering at us. If my calculations be correct, we shall have passed it before 7 P.M."
"Shall we travel during the night?" asked the Scot.
"No; not unless we are obliged to do so. With precaution and careful watching we might do so in safety. But it is not enough to cross Africa, we must see it too."
"Hitherto we have not had much to complain of, sir. The country is the best cultivated and the most fertile in the world; not a desert, as the geographies would have us believe."
About half-past six the "Victoria" was opposite Mount Duthumi. It was necessary, to avoid it, to rise more than 3,000 feet, and for that the doctor had only to raise the temperature eighteen degrees. It might be said that he worked the balloon with his hand. Kennedy warned him of the obstacles to avoid, and the "Victoria" rose through the air skimming past the mountain.
At eight o'clock they descended on the opposite side, but the descent was slower than the ascent. The grapnels were cast out, and one after the other came in contact with the branches of an enormous Indian fig, where they fastened themselves. Then Joe let himself slip down by the cord and secured the balloon as firmly as possible. The silk ladder was then thrown to him, and he reascended briskly. The balloon remained almost motionless, shaded from the wind.
The evening meal was prepared. The travelers, with appetites excited by their aerial trip, made a great hole in their provisions.
"What distance have we made to-day?" asked Kennedy, while masticating some troublesome morsels.
The doctor ascertained the day's work by means of lunar observations, and consulted the excellent map which served him as a guide—it was part of the atlas published in Gotha by his friend Petermann, which he had sent to him. This atlas would serve the doctor for the whole journey, for it contained the route of Burton and Speke to the great lakes, that to the Soudan undertaken by Barth, to the lower Senegal by William Lejean, and to the delta of the Niger by Dr. Baike.
Ferguson also possessed a book which contained all the speculations written respecting the Nile, and entitled, "The Sources of the Nile; being a general survey of the basin of that river, and of its head stream, with the history of the Nilotic discovery. By Charles Beke, D.D."
He also had the excellent maps published in the Transactions of the Royal Geographical Society of London, so any point of the country hitherto discovered could not now escape him.
Following the map, he found that the latitudinal route had been two degrees, or 120 miles, to the west. Kennedy remarked that the route turned towards the north; this direction satisfied the doctor, who wished as soon as possible to follow up the tracks of his predecessors.
It was decided that the night should be divided into three watches, so that each could in his turn keep guard for the others. The doctor took the 9 P.M. watch, Kennedy the midnight turn, and Joe that at 3 A.M. So Kennedy and Joe, wrapped up in their rugs, laid down under the awning, and slept calmly while the doctor kept his vigil.