A French novelist and aëronautic writer, G. de la Landelle, relates an amazing adventure in the art of soaring, which may have some foundation in fact, though savoring strongly of fiction. An experienced sailor, Captain Le Bris, having observed the albatross soaring without wing-beat, determined to imitate the fascinating flight of that limber-winged spirit of the sea. To such end he built the bird shown in Fig. 38, a ninety-pound albatross, with arched wings fifty feet across and articulated to the boat-like body. In this the brave aviator would stand upright, turn the wings and tail to maintain his balance, and steer grandly through the sky. Placing this long-winged creature across a cart driven by a peasant, he stood erect and headed against a breeze; the wings set low to prevent lifting till an opportune moment, and the bird held down to the car by a rope which the captain could quickly release. When the horse was a-trot, and the wind blowing freshly, Le Bris raised the front edges of the wings. Thereupon the albatross tugged upward, and the mooring rope was slipped, but accidentally whipped around the driver’s waist. The horse galloped away with the cart; the bird, with the exultant sailor on its back, soared 300 feet into the air, and incidentally carried up the peasant, dangling at the end of the rope and howling with fright. Noting the distress of his passenger, the kindly captain sailed close to earth, so that the peasant might disembark and run to his horse, meaning then to hie away for a long cruise in the clouds. But with this change of weight the vessel seemed not to navigate well; so she was brought skimming to land, with no mishap save a slight damage to the advancing wing, which broke as it touched the ground. [Illustration: FIG. 38.—LE BRIS’ AËROPLANE, 1855.] Having repaired the great bird’s wing, Captain Le Bris next made a launching from the arm of a derrick, 30 feet above the ground, overlooking a quarry 70 feet deep. The attendant swains stood open-mouthed, wondering whether this madman would overleap the clouds, or promptly butt out his brains on a jagged rock. When the wind blowing from the quarry seemed to float him in perfect poise, he tripped the suspension hook, and headed for the precipice on even keel. He was now happily launched, and keen for an aërial journey; but after passing the brink, he seemed to encounter an eddy which tilted his craft forward. The vessel dipped and rose; the captain plied his levers, turning now the tail, now the pinions. He crossed safely over the invisible breakers, and reached the quiet air of the quarry on level wing. But now his forward speed was lost, the great bird sank rapidly and crashed upon the rocky bed below. The wary seaman anticipating a bump, sprang upward to soften his fall; but a lever rebounding from the shock, hit one of his legs and broke it.