Five Weeks in a Balloon / Or, Journeys and Discoveries in Africa by Three Englishmen

guson.-Excelsior.-Full-length Portrait of the Doctor.-A Fatalist convi

eographical Society, No. 3 Waterloo Place, London. The president, Sir Francis M--, made an impor

inated with the following sonorous p

each other), "by the intrepidity of her explorers in the line of geographical discovery." (General assent). "Dr. Samuel Fer

disjointed, which the world entertains of African cartology" (vehement applause); "and, should it fail, it wi

ense audience, completely elect

n!" cried one of the most excit

in every mouth, and we may safely believe that it lost nothing in pa

nce. All had, in some degree, physically or morally, undergone the sorest trials. They had escaped shipwreck; conflagration; Indian tomahawks and war-clubs; the fagot and the stake; nay, even the cannibal maw

al Mint itself. So a subscription to encourage Dr. Ferguson was voted there and then, and it at once attained the han

of the president whether Dr. Ferguso

isposition of the meeti

ted the audience. "We'd like to see a man o

of his is only intended to mystify us

no such person as Dr. Ferguson?" exclaim

nt one!" replied a facetious

me in," was the quiet r

there, quite unmoved by the thunders o

with regular features, and a large nose-one of those noses that resemble the prow of a ship, and stamp the faces of men predestined to accomplish great discoveries. His eyes, which wer

re person, and no one would dream that he could bec

own behalf. He stepped toward the seat that had been prepared for him on his presentation, and then, standing erect a

elsi

e the rocks of the English coast with iron, made such a sensation. Sir Francis M--'s address was completely overshadowe

elsi

the singular man before him, and immediately moved the insertion of Dr. Fergu

on, and what was the ent

tle fellow, who seemed to have never known the meaning of fear, early revealed a keen and active mind, an investigating intelligence, and a remarkable turn for scientific study; moreover, he disclo

ily believe, of Selkirk (Robinson Crusoe), whom he considered in no wise inferior to the rest. How many a well-employed hour he passed with that hero on his isle of Juan Fernandez! Often he criticised the ideas of the shipwrecked sailor, and sometimes discussed his plans and projects. He would have done differ

of the Globe. Moreover, his father, who was a man of thorough instruction, omitted no opportunity to consolidate this keen intel

and distinguished himself in several affairs; but this soldier's life had not exactly suited him; caring but little for command, he had not been fond of obeying. He, therefore, sent in

ing in Captain Sturt's expedition, which had been sent out to explore

f discovery, he spent the intervening time, until 1853, in accompanying Captain McClure on t

st complete privations; in fine, he was the very type of the thoroughly accomplished explorer whose stomach expands or contracts at will; whose limbs grow longe

om 1855 to 1857, visiting the whole region west of the Thibet, in company with the brothers

yet scarcely suffices for its many legions of readers. Thus, the doctor had become well known to the public, although he could not claim membership in either of the Royal Geographical Societ

r in making the circuit of the Globe, how many more had his head described than his feet, by reason of the different lengths of the radi

e learned bodies-belonging, as he did, to the church militant and not to the church polemical. He f

passengers sit side by side, as they do in an omnibus. Well, it so happened that the Englishman got a seat that left him with his back turned toward t

nd we have good reason to believe that he was, to some extent, a fatalist, but of an orthodox school of fatalism withal, that led him to rely upon himself and even upon Providence. He claimed that he was

;" he often said, "it is

the Royal Society. He was above all such trifles, having no pride, and less vanity. He looked upon the proposition addres

been prepared there in his honor. The dimensions of the dishes served were made to correspond with the importance of the persona

l, Chapman, Clapperton, Clot-Bey, Colomieu, Courval, Cumming, Cuny, Debono, Decken, Denham, Desavanchers, Dicksen, Dickson, Dochard, Du Chaillu, Duncan, Durand, Duroule, Duveyrier, D'Escayrac, De Lauture, Erhardt, Ferret, Fresnel, Galinier, Galton, Geoffroy, Golberry, Hahn, Halm, Harnier, Hecquart, Heuglin, Hornemann, Houghton, Imbert, Kauffmann, Knoblecher, Krapf, Kummer, Lafargue, Laing, Lafaille, Lambert, Lamiral, Lampriere, John Lander, Richard Lander, Lefebvre, Lejean, Levaillant, Livingstone, MacCarthy, Maggiar, Maizan, Malzac, Moffat, Mollien, Monteiro, Morris