When darkness at length overtook me,
I went to bed in great anxiety, fearing to pass over the object of
so much curiosity when I should have no opportunity of observing it.
April 7th. Arose early, and, to my great joy, at length beheld
what there could be no hesitation in supposing the northern Pole
itself. It was there, beyond a doubt, and immediately beneath my feet;
but, alas! I had now ascended to so vast a distance, that nothing
could with accuracy be discerned. Indeed, to judge from the
progression of the numbers indicating my various altitudes,
respectively, at different periods, between six A.M. on the second
of April, and twenty minutes before nine A.M. of the same day (at
which time the barometer ran down), it might be fairly inferred that
the balloon had now, at four o'clock in the morning of April the
seventh, reached a height of not less, certainly, than 7,254 miles
above the surface of the sea. This elevation may appear immense, but
the estimate upon which it is calculated gave a result in all
probability far inferior to the truth.
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