第 二 章 · The Article in the Daily Telegraph.—War between the Scientific

. The Article in the Daily Telegraph.—War between the Scientific

Journals.—Mr. Petermann backs his Friend Dr. Ferguson.—Reply of the

Savant Koner.—Bets made.—Sundry Propositions offered to the Doctor.

On the next day, in its number of January 15th, the _Daily Telegraph_

published an article couched in the following terms:

“Africa is, at length, about to surrender the secret of her vast

solitudes; a modern Œdipus is to give us the key to that enigma which

the learned men of sixty centuries have not been able to decipher. In

other days, to seek the sources of the Nile—_fontes Nili quærere_—was

regarded as a mad endeavor, a chimera that could not be realized.

“Dr. Barth, in following out to Soudan the track traced by Denham and

Clapperton; Dr. Livingstone, in multiplying his fearless explorations

from the Cape of Good Hope to the basin of the Zambesi; Captains Burton

and Speke, in the discovery of the great interior lakes, have opened

three highways to modern civilization. _Their point of intersection_,

which no traveller has yet been able to reach, is the very heart of

Africa, and it is thither that all efforts should now be directed.

“The labors of these hardy pioneers of science are now about to be knit

together by the daring project of Dr. Samuel Ferguson, whose fine

explorations our readers have frequently had the opportunity of

appreciating.

“This intrepid discoverer proposes to traverse all Africa from east to

west _in a balloon_. If we are well informed, the point of departure

for this surprising journey is to be the island of Zanzibar, upon the

eastern coast. As for the point of arrival, it is reserved for

Providence alone to designate.

“The proposal for this scientific undertaking was officially made,

yesterday, at the rooms of the Royal Geographical Society, and the sum

of twenty-five hundred pounds was voted to defray the expenses of the

enterprise.

“We shall keep our readers informed as to the progress of this

enterprise, which has no precedent in the annals of exploration.”

As may be supposed, the foregoing article had an enormous echo among

scientific people. At first, it stirred up a storm of incredulity; Dr.

Ferguson passed for a purely chimerical personage of the Barnum stamp,

who, after having gone through the United States, proposed to “do” the

British Isles.

A humorous reply appeared in the February number of the _Bulletins de

la Société Géographique_ of Geneva, which very wittily showed up the

Royal Society of London and their phenomenal sturgeon.

But Herr Petermann, in his _Mittheilungen_, published at Gotha, reduced

the Geneva journal to the most absolute silence. Herr Petermann knew

Dr. Ferguson personally, and guaranteed the intrepidity of his

dauntless friend.

Besides, all manner of doubt was quickly put out of the question:

preparations for the trip were set on foot at London; the factories of

Lyons received a heavy order for the silk required for the body of the

balloon; and, finally, the British Government placed the transport-ship

_Resolute_, Captain Bennett, at the disposal of the expedition.

At once, upon word of all this, a thousand encouragements were offered,

and felicitations came pouring in from all quarters. The details of the

undertaking were published in full in the bulletins of the Geographical

Society of Paris; a remarkable article appeared in the _Nouvelles

Annales des Voyages, de la Géographie, de l’Histoire, et de

l’Archaeologie de M. V. A. Malte-Brun_ (“New Annals of Travels,

Geography, History, and Archaeology, by M. V. A. Malte-Brun”); and a

searching essay in the _Zeitschrift für Allgemeine Erdkunde_, by Dr. W.

Koner, triumphantly demonstrated the feasibility of the journey, its

chances of success, the nature of the obstacles existing, the immense

advantages of the aërial mode of locomotion, and found fault with

nothing but the selected point of departure, which it contended should

be Massowah, a small port in Abyssinia, whence James Bruce, in 1768,

started upon his explorations in search of the sources of the Nile.

Apart from that, it mentioned, in terms of unreserved admiration, the

energetic character of Dr. Ferguson, and the heart, thrice panoplied in

bronze, that could conceive and undertake such an enterprise.

The _North American Review_ could not, without some displeasure,

contemplate so much glory monopolized by England. It therefore rather

ridiculed the doctor’s scheme, and urged him, by all means, to push his

explorations as far as America, while he was about it.

In a word, without going over all the journals in the world, there was

not a scientific publication, from the _Journal of Evangelical

Missions_ to the _Revue Algérienne et Coloniale_, from the _Annales de

la Propagation de la Foi_ to the _Church Missionary Intelligencer_,

that had not something to say about the affair in all its phases.

Many large bets were made at London and throughout England generally,

first, as to the real or supposititious existence of Dr. Ferguson;

secondly, as to the trip itself, which, some contended, would not be

undertaken at all, and which was really contemplated, according to

others; thirdly, upon the success or failure of the enterprise; and

fourthly, upon the probabilities of Dr. Ferguson’s return. The

betting-books were covered with entries of immense sums, as though the

Epsom races were at stake.

Thus, believers and unbelievers, the learned and the ignorant, alike

had their eyes fixed on the doctor, and he became the lion of the day,

without knowing that he carried such a mane. On his part, he willingly

gave the most accurate information touching his project. He was very

easily approached, being naturally the most affable man in the world.

More than one bold adventurer presented himself, offering to share the

dangers as well as the glory of the undertaking; but he refused them

all, without giving his reasons for rejecting them.

Numerous inventors of mechanism applicable to the guidance of balloons

came to propose their systems, but he would accept none; and, when he

was asked whether he had discovered something of his own for that

purpose, he constantly refused to give any explanation, and merely

busied himself more actively than ever with the preparations for his

journey.