The Surprising Adventures of Baron Munchausen. Rudolf Raspe
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