TERRA FIRMA AND THE BALLOON.

Westport Times, Volume V, Issue 786, 9 March 1871, Page 3

TERRA FIRMA AND THE BALLOON.

It is only very lately that the balloon has been made use of in the interests of science. Its chit f use has been for pleasure, and Mr Glaisher and the French aeronauts represent the pleasant side of it to be more than compensation for its risks There are no such views of earth and sky as those which are to he seen from the car of a balloon. Without any of the fatigue of mountain climbing there is more than mountain elevation and prospect. The landscapes lie under the aeronaut like a map, only the map is reality itself. Mr Glaisher says that all the comparative altitudes of objects on or near the ground are lost —houses, trees, even the undulations of the country are reduced to a level, and the lower clouds seem to rest on the earth. "Everything seen, looking downwards from a balloon, including the clouds, seem projected upon the one visible plane beneath." However vast the height attained, the horizon always rises as it widens ; and though the dip of the horizon is very clearly seen, it is always at the same height as the eye. But perhapsthe most wonderful sight is a peopled city. Looked down upon from the skies our great buildings are flattened into insignificance, and towns and cities ho out like little models in motion. As M. Elammarion passed over Paris the city lay under him in the sunshine, and the Napoleon Column was flattened into a shapeless lump, only recognisable by the shadow stretched beside it, which seemed, like the column itself, reversed. Mr Glaisher describes his own view of London in the autumji sunset in 1863 as one wmch cannot be equalled in the world. Ihe balloon was 7000 feet high, and

London bridge lay directly underneath it. The whole of the metropolis lay out like a splendid panorama before the view of the aeronauts, the Thames visible far up the garden-like country and all down to the sea, with its innumerable ships and steamboats dotting it like moving toys. The populous streets were all alive with the slow motion of the pigmies who crowd them, and the roar of the great town rose up " a deep, rich, continuous sound —the voice of labor." But there are views peculiar to balloons which are as beautiful as those of peopled cities. We who look up at the under side of the clouds know nothing of the real magnificence of cloudland. It must be looked down upon to bo seen in its glory. Sunrise and sunset are nothing beneath the clouds compared with the glory above them. An autumn morning before sunrise is the best time, Mr GHaisher says, to see cloudland from a balloon. With the deep blue sky above, and the magnificent cloudland scenery lying spread below, " we seem," says Mr Glaisher, "to be citizens of the sky, and in the upper world to which we , seem now to belong, the silence and quiet are so intense that peace and calm seem to reign alone.