WHAT AERONAUTS SEE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 13948, 2 January 1909, Page 1 (Supplement)

WHAT AERONAUTS SEE.

M. Paul Adam in his new volume on ballooning gives a description of the scene upon which the aeronaut's eye falls as he gazes downward, which differs widely from " the pale and misty map" of others who have looked upon the earth from the point of view of the bird in mid-air. M. Adam's picture is attractive enough to tempt even the timid wayfarer who holds up hands of horror at the very thought of entering a balloon, and to whom this new form of sport is nothing short of tempting Providence. This is how the French balloonist saw the scene below as the balloon rose slowly into space:

" The encircling woods and the gleaming river are left deep below. The view expands; every second the horizon retreats farther away. The villages turn into toys that seem to have been scattered about by a child along the river, on the edge of the wood. Vanished is all the impurity of the lower air, and the airy world around is dazzlingly clear and clean. Presently our earth assumes the appearance of a rare object in the collection of a man of taste; the woods and meadows gleam like majolicas; the lakes are crystals ; the cultivated fields are precious stones of many colours, and the mansions, castles, and churches attract by their strange outlines. " Higher still, and the earth becomes a vividly coloured plain, in which all outlines are lost. The ground seems a perfectly flat, green expanse, crossed by pale high roads radiating from the towns and villages, and after you reach a height of 1500 metres the roads look like mere nervethreads leading from the brain of the earth to every part of the body. . . . Then mist-clouds begin to float between the earth and the balloon. The green of the woods, the mirror of the lakes, the glitterins buildings of Versailles are wrapt in veils, and the noise of the motor-car, fluttering about like a gnat, becomes a dull murmur, and then ceases entirely. A chain of clouds encircles earth and sky, and we are drifting through a milky mist. Around us deep silence and eternal peace, an wo sit enthroned in clouds, like Olympian gods, ignorant of the grief and woe of mankind. When at last the balloon begins to descend, the astonishingly rapid growth of the green spots, their metamorphosis into woods and forests with trembling masses of foliage, _ suggest the idea of the mythical creation of a world out of nothing. The violet and pink tints of clover mingle with the greens; timid rabbits rush hither and thither; life reappears in a thousand forms. The ventilator opens and shuts to let the gas escape. Once more we look up into the luminously clear sky, wherein we were sailing even now, and which already, with its waves of sunlight, seems utterly out of reach. Then the anchor grips the soil with a. dull thud, the airship swerves and trembles, and corner heavily to rest upon the ground." .