The basket is also to be made by a professional, as upon its workmanship may depend the lives of its occupants, though every other feature of the balloon be faultless. It must be light, and still very strong to carry its load and withstand severe bumping. It should be from 3 to 4 feet deep, with a floor space of 4 feet by 5 feet. It is usually made of willow and rattan woven substantially together. The ropes supporting the car are passed through the bottom and woven in with it. Buffers are woven on to the outside, and the inside is padded. The seats are small baskets in which is stored the equipment. With the completion of these the balloon is ready for its furnishings and equipment, which come under the direction of the pilot, or captain, as detailed in the preceding chapter. Chapter XVII. MILITARY AERONAUTICS. The pioneer Meusnier--L’Entreprenant--First aerostiers--First aerial warship--Bombardment by balloons--Free balloons in observations--Ordering artillery from balloon--The postal balloons of Paris--Compressed hydrogen--National experiments--Bomb dropping--Falling explosives--Widespread activity in gathering fleets--Controversies--Range of vision--Reassuring outlook. Almost from the beginning of success in traversing the air the great possibilities of all forms of aircraft as aids in warfare have been recognized by military authorities, and, as has so often been the case with other inventions by non-military minds, the practically unlimited funds at the disposal of national war departments have been available for the development of the balloon at first, then the airship, and now of the aeroplane. The Montgolfiers had scarcely proved the possibility of rising into the air, in 1783, before General Meusnier was busily engaged in inventing improvements in their balloon with the expressed purpose of making it of service to his army, and before he was killed in battle he had secured the appointment of a commission to test the improved balloon as to its efficiency in war. The report of the committee being favorable, a balloon corps was formed in April, 1794, and the balloon _L’Entreprenant_ was used during the battle of Fleurus, on June 26th, by Meusnier’s successor, General Jourdan, less than a year after Meusnier’s death. In 1795 this balloon was used in the battle of Mayence. In both instances it was employed for observation only. But when the French entered Moscow, they found there, and captured, a balloon laden with 1,000 pounds of gunpowder which was intended to have been used against them. In 1796 two other balloons were used by the French army then in front of Andernach and Ehrenbreitstein, and in 1798 the 1st Company of Aerostiers was sent to Egypt, and operated at the battle of the Nile, and later at Cairo. In the year following, this balloon corps was disbanded.