TERRIFFIC BALLOON ADVENTURE.

Colonist, Issue 1, 23 October 1857, Page 3

TERRIFFIC BALLOON ADVENTURE.

_' You are about to witness Monsieur G.s ascension,', snij a. gentleman to me as i entered the enclosure dovoted to tlie aeronautic display. He was an entire stranger to me ; bub not being Ruperstitions in matters of etiquette, as we might suppose a gentleman of distinction to be, 1 did not object; to this brusque mode of introduction, and so civilly answered ' Yes.' ' But I shall no farther to sea it than yon will,' continued the gentleman; ' I intend to ascend with Monsieur G.'. 'You may go"farther and fare worse," said I. 1 You are pleased to bo witty,' said he; ' but T intend to make Rome examination of thow upper regions for myself—to ascertain whether the stars celestial are on duty during'.'ihe day, or whether their is as much a sinecure as the office of our stars terrestrial. Would you like te ascend with ns?' •No, thank you kindly,' mi id I; "in gettinsf into t!te clouds oue might lose oneself—the way in likely 1o bi> mist! Every one to his taste ; the earth has such charms for me that I would not ehanye a npadefu! of itfor cubic miles of the blue empyrean. I'm no poet' . Vain declarrtion ! How little did I imagine the horrors that awaited me ! tloyv little did I. foresee my 'dreadful' Me in hanging between the heavens and the

eurtli, -v spectacle to laughing' men, giggling1 women, ami insensate hooting boys ! We entered the enclosure. There was the vast silken bubbly pulliing out its hollow cheeks like the face of a fat cloven, when 1 nghing, and rising mid tugging' away at the ropes, as if impatient to leave our society. 'You will not accompany me ?''• said my friend ; to which I replied in the negative, . ' L\>rha;is the gentleman would assist iii .cutting fcho ropes,' said tlte Heronnnt, in French, which] sinxu'ar'y enough, I understood at that, moment, though I never before or since ventured to exhibit.my knowledge. ' Certainly,' -aid I,' with pleasure.' 'Tlitink you,' 6aid the aeronaut; 'please take your station.' \ . Ho and my friond entered the cur. I grasped one of the ropes »nd awaited the order. In a moment more it cnino. ' Cut,' snid one voice. ' No, hold on,' said another. I wns bewildered, and did both. When the others cut, [did the same, ami with the direction to hold on,. I grasped the end of ihe rope still near iun, and ' held on.' In a moment more I was fifty feet from the around. Imagine my susjKiise! There was 1 liko a freshly caught fi^h^dariifhugat the end of a line, with the balloon representing the flout. 1 cried out to my friend and the aeronaut, but in vain, The spectators below, thinking I was some, aerial acrobat, who was about to tin n fifty double somersets and then alight upon his feet bgforo them, cheerwd •snlliciontly to drown my voice. The parties in the car could not see me. But, by the hut swung occasionally over the side, L know they were bowing to ll.e crowd below. Mean while, I was swinging like a pendulum below them, with only ten finger* to sustain the weight of the hundred and eighty pounds (I'm rather stunt), and to prevent me being thinly spread orer the ground beneath—from • larding the lean earth' with my human form divine. What an age of I terror ! The do-ne of St. Paul's became a parasol ;'* men hemline nine-pins; and fine gothic churches began to look like chicken coops. In the meantime my finzors stiffened, but I clutched the rope with the energy of despair. I had long ceased calling; 1 bad exhausted myself. Suddenly a cold perHitiration broke out upon me—l knew wyhour had come. My fine-era were slowly slipping down the rope ! Oil ! this iiso'iNing moments ! Inch by inch I approached my doom. First the left hand lost its hold; and then, as [ felt the end slipping by the little finger of lihe right, I gave one brief prayer and fell— out of bed! !>oing, as I before observed, a corpulent man, my fall had shaken the wiiolo housn, and the alarmed inmates, aroused from 'sweet slumbers,' weve knocking violently at the door, which had the effect of restoring me to consciousness, when I discovered that my "terrific balloon axceiit " was nothing more than a nightmare, Miperiinluced, lam led to believe, by the festivities usual oi Christmas day, in which 1 may s«y I indulged somewhat on Monday last, in No ! I «-ill not Iwtrajr my friends ; l)tit (illow'me to tell you, dear reader, that such a Christmas dinner as they gavo me is not to be sneezed at.

WOKKCXG OF THE IlttSll IXCUMnEUED ESTATES.—>. Tn a- period of less than eight years, the Irish Inciimbercd Estates Commission lias dealt with landed property representing a net rental of upwards of one million four hundred and fifty thousand pounds sterling, and covering an area of. moro than four million one-hundred thousand acres. A court of justice, sitting in a remote corner of Dublin, has peaceably changed the ownership of a larger mass of land than probably passed under Cromwell's confiscations, , .Of the va*t district brought within its grasp, about sixsevenths, containing three million five hundred thousand acres, with a rental of ouo million two hundred and thirty thousand pounds sterling, has boon sold and transferred, leaving a residue of six hundred thousand Acres, of the yearly value of two hundred and twenty thousand pounds sterling, still undisposed of. The ineumbrances upon the estates already sold, and which h tlierto had been pent up in tho Courts of Equity, or left in tho hands of ruiued inheritors, reach the extraordinary sura of thirty-six millions sterling, or upwards of twenty-four years' purchase upon tho net rental. This single fact shows tho state of landed, bankruptcy that existed in Ireland, and is an ample ■justification of tho law. It is interesting to note accurately the statistics and progress of this great revolution. From, the 25th ol October, 18-iO, to. tho 2oth of May, 1857, four thousand one hundred and nine petitions for the sale, partition, or exchange of land have been presented to tho Commissioners. Of these, one thousand one hundred and ninety-five had originated with cmbarassed owners, and two thousand nine hundred and fourteen with their creditors. On these petitions three thousand one hundred ahd ninety-seven absoluto orders for sale have been made; and the property comprised in them has been sold in eleven thousand ono hundred and twenty-three lots, to seven thousand two hundred and sixteen purchasers, of whom .six thousand nine hundred and two have been Irish, and the remainder Englishmen, Scotchmen', or foreigners. The number of cases which had hitherto been pending in the Equity Courts, before they were brought within the soopa of'the new tribunal amounts to ono thousand two hundred and fifty-four, the balance consisting of applications to tho Commissioners in the first instance. ■ The muniments of title to the estates under the process of 'transfer are two hundred and thirty thousand, contained in two thousand four hundred and thirty-six boxes; and the conveyances already executed roach the number of six ■■thousand eight hundred and eighty-two. Finally, the estates already sold have realised the sum of twenty millions one hundred and ninety-four thousand two hundred and ono pounds sterling; of which eighteen millions of jwunds hwe been distributed to tho different parties interested, according to their resjwetive rights. So enormous a change in the real property of a country, effected peaceably and without a revolution, with a strict regard to all legal rights, and entirely caused by a reform in a jucidial method of transfer, is certainly without, a parallel in history.— Edinburgh Review. Tuk Having op Gusnuoh.—-Msc'Lm dwelt in the mouth of a ravine, situated not far from the southern shore of Lochlevon, an arm of tho sea which deeply indents the western coast of Scotland, and separates Argyleshire from Inverness-shire. "Near his house were two-or three small hamlets, inhabited by his tribe. The whole population which ho governed was not supposed to exceed two hundred souls. In tho neighbourhood of the little cluster of villages were some, oopsowood and some pasture land; but a little further up the dofilo no sign of population or of i'ruitfulness was to bo seen. Li the Gaelic tongue, Glencoe signifies the Glen of Weeping; and, in truth, that pass is the most dreary and melancholy of all the Scottish passes—the very Valley of the Shadow of death. Mists and storms brood over it, through tho greater part of the finest summer; and even on those rare days, when the sun is bright and when there is no cloud in the sky, the impression made by the landscape is sad and awful. The path lies along a stream, which issues from the most sullen and gloomy of mountain pools. Huge precipices of naked stone frown on both sides. Mile after mile the traveller logics in vain for the smoke of ono hut, for one human form lapped in a plaid, and listens in vain for tho bark of a shepherd's dog, or the bloat of the lamb. ' The progress of civilization, which has turned so many wastes into fields yellow with harvests or gay with apple blossoms, has only made Gloneoe desolate.

Bam.xok of tub Atmosi'hkur.—-Suppose ari apartmont only twelve feet square, and nine foot high, the pressure of-the air upon the four sides, and the roof, containing five hundred and seventy-six square feet, is eqnal to one- million, two 'hundred and forty-four thousand, one hundred and sixty pounds! this enormous pressure is balanced by the resistance, of the small quantity of the air in the room, which weighs only ninety-seven pounds; so that, here, is a small weight of ninety-seven pounds, counteracting a pressure of 1,244,160 pounds! Without this wonderful balance, no house could bo habitable,- no. creature could remain alive : our glass windows would be shattered to atoms; an army tent, or peasant's house, or a shepherd's hut, yea, even our moat stately edifices, would bo-crushed to atoms.