"
"Whenever you like, doctor."
"We shall also have to replenish our stock of water.
Who knows but we may be carried to some of the dried-up
regions? So we cannot take too many precautions."
At noon the Victoria was at twenty-nine degrees fifteen
minutes east longitude, and three degrees fifteen minutes
south latitude. She passed the village of Uyofu, the last
northern limit of the Unyamwezi, opposite to the Lake
Ukereoue, which could still be seen.
The tribes living near to the equator seem to be a little
more civilized, and are governed by absolute monarchs, whose
control is an unlimited despotism. Their most compact union
of power constitutes the province of Karagwah.
It was decided by the aeronauts that they would
alight at the first favorable place. They found that they
should have to make a prolonged halt, and take a careful
inspection of the balloon: so the flame of the cylinder
was moderated, and the anchors, flung out from the car,
ere long began to sweep the grass of an immense prairie,
that, from a certain height, looked like a shaven lawn,
but the growth of which, in reality, was from seven to
eight feet in height.
The balloon skimmed this tall grass without bending
it, like a gigantic butterfly: not an obstacle was in sight;
it was an ocean of verdure without a single breaker.
Pages:
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178