Page:Works of Jules Verne - Parke - Vol 1.djvu/221

 Nili quærere–was regarded as the act of a madman; a chimera, in fact.

"Doctor Earth, by following as far as Soudan the route traversed by Denham and Clapperton; Doctor Livingstone, by extending his undaunted researches from the Cape of Good Hope to the basin of the Zambezi; Burton and Speke, by the discovery of the Great Inland Lakes, have opened up three routes to modern civilization. To the point of intersection of these routes, no traveler has hitherto been able to penetrate; it is in the very heart of Africa. It is to that point that all our efforts should be directed.

"The works of these hardy pioneers of science are now about to be supplemented by the spirited attempt of Dr. Samuel Ferguson, whose wonderful expeditions have so often been appreciated by our readers. This hardy explorer proposes to cross the continent of Africa from east to west in a balloon. If we have been correctly informed, the point of departure of this extraordinary enterprise will be the island of Zanzibar upon the eastern coast. Where the point of arrival will prove to be–Heaven alone can tell!

"This exploit was yesterday proposed officially to the members of the Royal Geographical Society, and a sum of £2,500 was voted to defray the expenses of the expedition. We will keep our readers duly informed upon the various events in connection with the projected enterprise, which is without precedent in geographical annals."

This article, as was intended, had an enormous circulation. It first aroused a tempest of incredulity, and Doctor Ferguson was looked upon as a visionary, an invention of Barnum, who, having exhausted the United States, was about to do the British Isles!

A quizzical notice appeared in Geneva in the February number of the Proceedings of the Geographical Society, which gently rallied the Royal Society in London, the Travelers' Club, and the wonderful sturgeon. But Mr. Petermann, in his Mitheilungen, published in Gotha, shut up the Geneva paper completely. Mr. Petermann was acquainted with Dr. Ferguson, and bore testimony to the hardihood of his (Petermann's) courageous friend.

Soon, however, doubt was no longer possible. Preparations for the expedition were being made in London. Firms at Lyons had received orders for striped taffetas for