Page:Travel by Balloon.pdf/3

 I am leaving for the Riviera shortly, and on the shores of the Mediterranean I mean to build another shed and continue my. I shall take all my apparatus, my machinery for making hydrogen, and my workmen, and with the Santos-Dumont VI. will make trial trips over the water.

I have provided against falling into the sea. The framework of the balloon will be incased in an impermeable silk covering, so that if I come down in the Mediterranean I shall float. My guide rope, too, will be made of what sailors call "bastin," so that it will float on the surface of the sea and serve as equilibrium in the same way I it when maneuvering over Longehamps racecourse. I shall be followed by a steam launch in case of accidents, and shall the radius of my excursions every day. Then, on a nice, bright day, provided with a message which I shall ask the postal to intrust to me for delivery at a given spot in Corsica, I shall try to cross from France to that island. I believe I shall beat the mail boats, for they are slow