Monsieur Nadar, on his return to Paris, wrote as follows:—
“Here, as briefly as possible, is the account which you asked me to send. Yesterday evening at nine o’clock, the ‘Giant’ was compelled to descend near the Barcy Marsh, two leagues from Meaux, after three violent shocks, the last of which completely turned everything in the car topsy-turvy, and it descended on its side. The rupture of our valve-pipe rope while travelling by night, forced us to throw out our anchors. One of the prongs of the first anchor having broken, the principal anchor fortunately took hold of the ground. We were able to let out the gas, notwithstanding the violence of the wind, and the car was set up at half-past one in the morning. Some slight contusions and a concussion of the knee of one of the passengers—that is our receipt in full. It is not too dear.
“A. Nadar.”
This bold and zealous aeronaut unfortunately paid dearer for his succeeding ascent as shall be seen in the next chapter.
Chapter Eight.
Second Ascent of Nadar’s “Giant” Balloon.
Before describing the second ascent, which was decidedly the more adventurous, we shall give the rules laid down for his party by Monsieur Nadar, which were remarkably stringent, and somewhat amusing:—
“1. Every traveller on board the ‘Géant’ must, before mounting, take knowledge of the present rules, and engage himself upon his honour to respect them, and to make them respected, both in the letter and in the spirit. He accepts and will obey this obligation until the descent.