It was not with this apparatus that Blanchard effected his
ascent, for we have seen that the gearing of his vessel was
broken by the infuriated Dupont de Chambon. Yet the aeronaut
pretends to have been, to some extent, assisted by his mechanical
contrivances. The following is his narrative:--
"I rose to a certain height over Plassy, and perceiving Villette,
which I did not despair of reaching in spite of the misfortune
that had happened to me, I attached a rope of my rigging to my
leg, not being able to make use of my left hand, which I had
wrapped in my handkerchief on account of the sword-wound it had
received. I fixed up a piece of cloth, and thus made a sort of
sail with which I hugged the wind. But the rays of the sun had
so heated and rarefied the inflammable air that soon I forgot my
rigging in thinking of the terrible danger that threatened me."
Going on to narrate the dangers that beset him, Blanchard
describes a number of most extraordinary experiences, which would
be better worthy of a place here if they were more like the
truth. His curious narrative is thus brought to a close:--
"Escaped from these impetuous and contrary winds, during which I
had felt a great degree of cold, I mounted perpendicularly.
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