The Surprising Adventures of Baron Munchausen - Rudolf Raspe

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their weapons employed in this business should destroy me also;

      therefore I stood as near the centre as possible, for there was room

      enough for a dozen men in this creature’s stomach, and I naturally

      imagined they would begin with the extremities; however, my fears were

      soon dispersed, for they began by opening the bottom of the belly. As

      soon as I perceived a glimmering of light I called out lustily to be

      released from a situation in which I was now almost suffocated. It is

      impossible for me to do justice to the degree and kind of astonishment

      which sat upon every countenance at hearing a human voice issue from a

      fish, but more so at seeing a naked man walk upright out of his body;

      in short, gentlemen, I told them the whole story, as I have done you,

      whilst amazement struck them dumb.

      After taking some refreshment, and jumping into the sea to cleanse

      myself, I swam to my clothes, which lay where I had left them on the

      shore. As near as I can calculate, I was near four hours and a half

      confined in the stomach of this animal.

      CHAPTER IX

      _Adventures in Turkey, and upon the river Nile – Sees a balloon

      over Constantinople; shoots at, and brings it down; finds a French

      experimental philosopher suspended from it – Goes on an embassy to Grand

      Cairo, and returns upon the Nile, where he is thrown into an unexpected

      situation, and detained six weeks._

      When I was in the service of the Turks I frequently amused myself in a

      pleasure-barge on the Marmora, which commands a view of the whole city

      of Constantinople, including the Grand Seignior’s Seraglio. One morning,

      as I was admiring the beauty and serenity of the sky, I observed a

      globular substance in the air, which appeared to be about the size of a

      twelve-inch globe, with somewhat suspended from it. I immediately took

      up my largest and longest barrel fowling-piece, which I never travel or

      make even an excursion without, if I can help it; I charged with a ball,

      and fired at the globe, but to no purpose, the object being at too great

      a distance. I then put in a double quantity of powder, and five or six

      balls: this second attempt succeeded; all the balls took effect, and

      tore one side open, and brought it down. Judge my surprise when a most

      elegant gilt car, with a man in it, and part of a sheep which seemed to

      have been roasted, fell within two yards of me. When my astonishment

      had in some degree subsided, I ordered my people to row close to this

      strange aërial traveller.

      I took him on board my barge (he was a native of France): he was much

      indisposed from his sudden fall into the sea, and incapable of speaking;

      after some time, however, he recovered, and gave the following account

      of himself, viz.: «About seven or eight days since, I cannot tell which,

      for I have lost my reckoning, having been most of the time where the sun

      never sets, I ascended from the Land’s End in Cornwall, in the island of

      Great Britain, in the car from which I have been just taken, suspended

      from a very large balloon, and took a sheep with me to try atmospheric

      experiments upon: unfortunately, the wind changed within ten minutes

      after my ascent, and instead of driving towards Exeter, where I intended

      to land, I was driven towards the sea, over which I suppose I have

      continued ever since, but much too high to make observations.

      «The calls of hunger were so pressing, that the intended experiments

      upon heat and respiration gave way to them. I was obliged, on the third

      day, to kill the sheep for food; and being at that time infinitely above

      the moon, and for upwards of sixteen hours after so very near the sun

      that it scorched my eyebrows, I placed the carcase, taking care to skin

      it first, in that part of the car where the sun had sufficient power,

      or, in other words, where the balloon did not shade it from the sun, by

      which method it was well roasted in about two hours. This has been my

      food ever since.» Here he paused, and seemed lost in viewing the objects

      about him. When I told him the buildings before us were the Grand

      Seignior’s Seraglio at Constantinople, he seemed exceedingly affected,

      as he had supposed himself in a very different situation. «The cause,»

      added he, «of my long flight, was owing to the failure of a string which

      was fixed to a valve in the balloon, intended to let out the inflammable

      air; and if it had not been fired at, and rent in the manner before

      mentioned, I might, like Mahomet, have been suspended between heaven and

      earth till doomsday.»

      The Grand Seignior, to whom I was introduced by the Imperial, Russian,

      and French ambassadors, employed me to negotiate a matter of great

      importance at Grand Cairo, and which was of such a nature that it must

      ever remain a secret.

      I went there in great state by land; where, having completed the

      business, I dismissed almost all my attendants, and returned like a

      private gentleman; the weather was delightful, and that famous river the

      Nile was beautiful beyond all description; in short, I was tempted to

      hire a barge to descend by water to Alexandria. On the third day of my

      voyage the river began to rise most amazingly (you have all heard, I

      presume, of the annual overflowing of the Nile), and on the next day it

      spread the whole country for many leagues on each side! On the fifth, at

      sunrise, my barge became entangled with what I at first took for shrubs,

      but as the light became stronger I found myself surrounded by almonds,

      which were perfectly ripe, and in the highest perfection. Upon plumbing

      with a line my people found we were at least sixty feet from the ground,

      and unable to advance or retreat. At about eight or nine o’clock,

      as near as I could judge by the altitude of the sun, the wind rose

      suddenly, and canted our barge on one side: here she filled, and I saw

      no

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