no way to compare when less than two revisions

Differences

This shows you the differences between two versions of the page.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
+====== TRAVELS OF BARON MUNCHAUSEN ======
+===== CHAPTER IX =====
+//Adventures in Turkey, and upon the river Nile--Sees a balloon
+over Constantinople; shoots at, and brings it down; finds a French
+experimental philosopher suspended from it--Goes on an embassy to
+Grand Cairo, and returns upon the Nile, where he is thrown into an
+unexpected situation, and detained six weeks.//
+When I was in the service of the Turks I frequently amused myself in a
+pleasure-barge on the Marmora, which commands a view of the whole city
+of Constantinople, including the Grand Seignior's Seraglio. One
+morning, as I was admiring the beauty and serenity of the sky, I
+observed a globular substance in the air, which appeared to be about
+the size of a twelve-inch globe, with somewhat suspended from it. I
+immediately took up my largest and longest barrel fowling-piece, which
+I never travel or make even an excursion without, if I can help it; I
+charged with a ball, and fired at the globe, but to no purpose, the
+object being at too great a distance. I then put in a double quantity
+of powder, and five or six balls: this second attempt succeeded; all
+the balls took effect, and tore one side open, and brought it down.
+Judge my surprise when a most elegant gilt car, with a man in it, and
+part of a sheep which seemed to have been roasted, fell within two
+yards of me. When my astonishment had in some degree subsided, I
+ordered my people to row close to this strange aërial traveller.
+I took him on board my barge (he was a native of France): he was much
+indisposed from his sudden fall into the sea, and incapable of
+speaking; after some time, however, he recovered, and gave the
+following account of himself, viz.: "About seven or eight days since,
+I cannot tell which, for I have lost my reckoning, having been most of
+the time where the sun never sets, I ascended from the Land's End in
+Cornwall, in the island of Great Britain, in the car from which I have
+been just taken, suspended from a very large balloon, and took a sheep
+with me to try atmospheric experiments upon: unfortunately, the wind
+changed within ten minutes after my ascent, and instead of driving
+towards Exeter, where I intended to land, I was driven towards the
+sea, over which I suppose I have continued ever since, but much too
+high to make observations.
+"The calls of hunger were so pressing, that the intended experiments
+upon heat and respiration gave way to them. I was obliged, on the
+third day, to kill the sheep for food; and being at that time
+infinitely above the moon, and for upwards of sixteen hours after so
+very near the sun that it scorched my eyebrows, I placed the carcase,
+taking care to skin it first, in that part of the car where the sun
+had sufficient power, or, in other words, where the balloon did not
+shade it from the sun, by which method it was well roasted in about
+two hours. This has been my food ever since." Here he paused, and
+seemed lost in viewing the objects about him. When I told him the
+buildings before us were the Grand Seignior's Seraglio at
+Constantinople, he seemed exceedingly affected, as he had supposed
+himself in a very different situation. "The cause," added he, "of my
+long flight, was owing to the failure of a string which was fixed to a
+valve in the balloon, intended to let out the inflammable air; and if
+it had not been fired at, and rent in the manner before mentioned, I
+might, like Mahomet, have been suspended between heaven and earth till
+doomsday."
+The Grand Seignior, to whom I was introduced by the Imperial, Russian,
+and French ambassadors, employed me to negotiate a matter of great
+importance at Grand Cairo, and which was of such a nature that it must
+ever remain a secret.
+I went there in great state by land; where, having completed the
+business, I dismissed almost all my attendants, and returned like a
+private gentleman; the weather was delightful, and that famous river
+the Nile was beautiful beyond all description; in short, I was tempted
+to hire a barge to descend by water to Alexandria. On the third day of
+my voyage the river began to rise most amazingly (you have all heard,
+I presume, of the annual overflowing of the Nile), and on the next day
+it spread the whole country for many leagues on each side! On the
+fifth, at sunrise, my barge became entangled with what I at first took
+for shrubs, but as the light became stronger I found myself surrounded
+by almonds, which were perfectly ripe, and in the highest perfection.
+Upon plumbing with a line my people found we were at least sixty feet
+from the ground, and unable to advance or retreat. At about eight or
+nine o'clock, as near as I could judge by the altitude of the sun, the
+wind rose suddenly, and canted our barge on one side: here she filled,
+and I saw no more of her for some time. Fortunately we all saved
+ourselves (six men and two boys) by clinging to the tree, the boughs
+of which were equal to our weight, though not to that of the barge: in
+this situation we continued six weeks and three days, living upon the
+almonds; I need not inform you we had plenty of water. On the forty-
+second day of our distress the water fell as rapidly as it had risen,
+and on the forty-sixth we were able to venture down upon //terra
+firma//. Our barge was the first pleasing object we saw, about two
+hundred yards from the spot where she sunk. After drying everything
+that was useful by the heat of the sun, and loading ourselves with
+necessaries from the stores on board, we set out to recover our lost
+ground, and found, by the nearest calculation, we had been carried
+over garden-walls, and a variety of enclosures, above one hundred and
+fifty miles. In four days, after a very tiresome journey on foot, with
+thin shoes, we reached the river, which was now confined to its banks,
+related our adventures to a boy, who kindly accommodated all our
+wants, and sent us forward in a barge of his own. In six days more we
+arrived at Alexandria, where we took shipping for Constantinople. I
+was received kindly by the Grand Seignior, and had the honour of
+seeing the Seraglio, to which his highness introduced me himself.
+----
+Go to [[CHAPTER X]]