On Tuesday, August 4th, at six forty-five in the morning, the great twenty-four hour test for the government began, without previous announcement, but with fairest prospect of success. Sailing from Friedrichshafen, Zeppelin purposed to follow the Rhine as far down as Mayence, then return in a direct line to his starting point. All went splendidly at first. He passed Constance at seven o’clock in the morning, Basle at nine-thirty, Strassburg about noon, then with slower speed passed Mannheim at two-fifty and Darmstadt at four-thirty. At about six o’clock a descent was made at Oppenheim, eleven and a quarter hours after starting. The air ship had voyaged 270 miles at the average speed of 22 miles an hour. A wonderful demonstration it was for the inhabitants of that historic valley, and a glorious tour for the brave old sailor and his crew. Resuming the voyage, Mayence, the turning point, was reached at eleven o’clock at night, and the vessel was headed for home. But now the engines, being overworked, could not maintain the usual speed, which therefore was lowered to twelve miles an hour. Next morning at eight o’clock, after Stuttgart had been passed, a descent had to be made at the village of Echterdingen, to adjust and overhaul the machinery. Ninety-five miles of the return had been made in nine hours. It was most unfortunate that a landing had to be made without a harbor, particularly as a gale was in pursuit of the vessel. Ere long she was torn from her moorings by a squall, carried into the air, and set on fire, probably by an electric discharge. Immediately the great hull was enveloped in flame and completely destroyed, leaving a tangled network of distorted framing. It was a dismal termination to the greatest motor balloon voyage in the world’s history up to that date; for the vessel had been in the air continuously for twenty and three-fourths hours and had traveled 378 miles.