Page:Letters from the Battle-fields of Paraguay (1870).djvu/413



TO THE BRAZILIAN FRONT. 383

Reis (say 1000/.), and was made of silk : the dimensions were 19.8 metres in length by 12.6 in diameter : the total weight was 395 lbs. (viz. 250 silk + 25 basket-boat + 120 netting) ; it was 973 kilogrammes lighter than the atmo- sphere, and it was easily managed by four men. Unfor- tunately, it was utterly spoilt by being burnt in varnishing.

Messrs. James Allen and Brother, citizens of the United States, afterwards brought two balloons, which were both " captive "^ — the '^ free ^^ form was not tried here. One was small. The other measured 12 metres + 9, weighed 143-59 kilogrammes (viz., 5920 silk + 9*15 boat + 1377 ballast -h 39*47 netting, and +22*0 for the strong stays), and its specific gravity was 190*37 kilogrammes lighter than air. It was so constructed as to become a parachute if struck by a shot. The hydrogen was made with flakes and filings of thin iron, placed in two connected wooden tanks, and presenting the greatest amount of surface to the diluted sulphuric acid. The latter came, like the tanks and bottles, from New York.

This balloon effected some fourteen or fifteen ascents at Tuyu-ti and Tuyu-cue. It rose from twelve to eighteen metres, and Lieutenant-Colonel Chodasiewicz, who accom- panied the owners, could easily discern that Marshal-Presi- dent Lopez had about 200 guns in position and 100 field- pieces. After it had made the first profile reconnaissances, the Paraguayans began to fire at it; and they fired so well that a shell burst within fifty yards of the boat. They presently learned to defeat its object by burning large piles of damp grass. Presently Major, or Doctor, Amaral — here all engineers are doctors (of mathematics) — finding the sway of the wind a somewhat nervous matter, reported it useless, and the Aliens took their departure. The Generalissimo did not approve of the moveable mangrullo — a Cossack revival,, proposed to him by the Polish engineer.