The Surprising Adventures of Baron Munchausen
Page 11
CHAPTER IX
_Adventures in Turkey, and upon the river Nile--Sees a balloonover Constantinople; shoots at, and brings it down; finds a Frenchexperimental philosopher suspended from it--Goes on an embassy to GrandCairo, and returns upon the Nile, where he is thrown into an unexpectedsituation, and detained six weeks._
When I was in the service of the Turks I frequently amused myself in apleasure-barge on the Marmora, which commands a view of the whole cityof Constantinople, including the Grand Seignior's Seraglio. One morning,as I was admiring the beauty and serenity of the sky, I observed aglobular substance in the air, which appeared to be about the size of atwelve-inch globe, with somewhat suspended from it. I immediately tookup my largest and longest barrel fowling-piece, which I never travel ormake 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 greata distance. I then put in a double quantity of powder, and five or sixballs: this second attempt succeeded; all the balls took effect, andtore one side open, and brought it down. Judge my surprise when a mostelegant gilt car, with a man in it, and part of a sheep which seemed tohave been roasted, fell within two yards of me. When my astonishmenthad in some degree subsided, I ordered my people to row close to thisstrange aerial traveller.
I took him on board my barge (he was a native of France): he was muchindisposed from his sudden fall into the sea, and incapable of speaking;after some time, however, he recovered, and gave the following accountof 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 sunnever sets, I ascended from the Land's End in Cornwall, in the island ofGreat Britain, in the car from which I have been just taken, suspendedfrom a very large balloon, and took a sheep with me to try atmosphericexperiments upon: unfortunately, the wind changed within ten minutesafter my ascent, and instead of driving towards Exeter, where I intendedto land, I was driven towards the sea, over which I suppose I havecontinued ever since, but much too high to make observations.
"The calls of hunger were so pressing, that the intended experimentsupon heat and respiration gave way to them. I was obliged, on the thirdday, to kill the sheep for food; and being at that time infinitely abovethe moon, and for upwards of sixteen hours after so very near the sunthat it scorched my eyebrows, I placed the carcase, taking care to skinit 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, bywhich method it was well roasted in about two hours. This has been myfood ever since." Here he paused, and seemed lost in viewing the objectsabout him. When I told him the buildings before us were the GrandSeignior'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 whichwas fixed to a valve in the balloon, intended to let out the inflammableair; and if it had not been fired at, and rent in the manner beforementioned, I might, like Mahomet, have been suspended between heaven andearth till doomsday."
The Grand Seignior, to whom I was introduced by the Imperial, Russian,and French ambassadors, employed me to negotiate a matter of greatimportance at Grand Cairo, and which was of such a nature that it mustever remain a secret.
I went there in great state by land; where, having completed thebusiness, I dismissed almost all my attendants, and returned like aprivate gentleman; the weather was delightful, and that famous river theNile was beautiful beyond all description; in short, I was tempted tohire a barge to descend by water to Alexandria. On the third day of myvoyage the river began to rise most amazingly (you have all heard, Ipresume, of the annual overflowing of the Nile), and on the next day itspread the whole country for many leagues on each side! On the fifth, atsunrise, 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 plumbingwith 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 rosesuddenly, and canted our barge on one side: here she filled, and I sawno more of her for some time. Fortunately we all saved ourselves (sixmen and two boys) by clinging to the tree, the boughs of which wereequal to our weight, though not to that of the barge: in this situationwe continued six weeks and three days, living upon the almonds; I neednot inform you we had plenty of water. On the forty-second day ofour distress the water fell as rapidly as it had risen, and on theforty-sixth we were able to venture down upon _terra firma_. Our bargewas the first pleasing object we saw, about two hundred yards from thespot where she sunk. After drying everything that was useful by the heatof the sun, and loading ourselves with necessaries from the stores onboard, we set out to recover our lost ground, and found, by the nearestcalculation, we had been carried over garden-walls, and a variety ofenclosures, above one hundred and fifty miles. In four days, after avery 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 bargeof his own. In six days more we arrived at Alexandria, where wetook shipping for Constantinople. I was received kindly by the GrandSeignior, and had the honour of seeing the Seraglio, to which hishighness introduced me himself.