Page:Works of Jules Verne - Parke - Vol 1.djvu/279

 Only in the event of the absence of all wind, if the doctor had left the car to sleep on the ground, the balloon, then divested of a considerable weight, would be maintained in its position without the assistance of the blow-pipe.

The maps showed vast pools of water upon the western side of Jihoue-la-Mkoa. Joe went off with a barrel which might contain a dozen gallons; he found the place indicated without difficulty, not far from a small deserted village, took a supply of water, and returned to the balloon in less than three-quarters of an hour. He had seen nothing particular, except immense elephant traps; he narrowly escaped falling into one of them, in which a half-eaten carcass was lying. He found and brought back a sort of medlar, which the monkeys eat voraciously. The doctor recognized it as the fruit of the "mbenbu," a very common tree on the west part of Jihoue-la-Mkoa. Ferguson waited somewhat impatiently for Joe, for even a short stay upon that inhospitable land filled him with fear.

The water was hoisted in without difficulty, for the car was brought close to the ground. Joe was able to take up the grapnel and mount nimbly after his master, who at once set the flame going, and the "Victoria" resumed her aërial voyage.

They were then 100 miles from Kazeh, an important settlement in the interior, where, thanks to a southeasterly current, the travelers had hopes of arriving during the day. They progressed at about fourteen miles an hour, the management of the balloon became rather difficult, they could not rise very high without expanding too much gas, for the country was already nearly 3,000 feet high. The doctor preferred to restrain the expansion as much as possible, so he very adroitly followed the windings of a somewhat steep declivity, and passed very near to the villages of Themba and Tura Wells. This latter is situated in Unyamwezy, a magnificent region, where the trees attain enormous dimensions, and the cactus amongst others, which are gigantic.

About two o'clock, in splendid weather, beneath a scorching sun, which absorbed the least current of air, the "Victoria" hovered above the town of Kazeh, situated about 350 miles from the coast.

"We left Zanzibar at nine o'clock in the morning," said