From this time on balloons multiplied rapidly and the ascents were too numerous for recording in these pages. The few which have been selected for mention are notable either for the great distances traversed, or for the speed with which the journeys were made. It should be borne in mind that the fastest method of land travel in the early part of the period covered was by stage coach; and the sailing ship was the only means of crossing the water. It is no wonder that often the people among whom the aeronauts landed on a balloon voyage refused to believe the statements made as to the distance they had come, and the marvellously short time it had taken. And even as compared with the most rapid transit of the present day, the speeds attained in many cases have never been equalled. A remarkable English voyage was made in June, 1802, by the French aeronaut Garnerin and Captain Snowdon. They ascended from Chelsea Gardens and landed in Colchester, 60 miles distant, in 45 minutes: an average speed of 80 miles an hour. On December 16, 1804, Garnerin ascended from the square in front of Notre Dame, Paris; passing over France and into Italy, sailing above St. Peter’s at Rome, and the Vatican, and descending into Lake Bracciano--a distance of 800 miles in 20 hours. This voyage was made as a part of the coronation ceremonies of Napoleon I. The balloon was afterwards hung up in a corridor of the Vatican. On October 7, 1811, Sadler and Burcham voyaged from Birmingham to Boston (England), 112 miles in 1 hour 40 minutes, a speed of 67 miles per hour. On November 17, 1836, Charles Green and Monck Mason started on a voyage in the great balloon of the Vauxhall Gardens. It was pear-shaped, 60 feet high and 50 feet in diameter, and held 85,000 cubic feet of gas. It was cut loose at half-past one in the afternoon, and in 3 hours had reached the English Channel, and in 1 hour more had crossed it, and was nearly over Calais. During the night it floated on over France in pitchy darkness and such intense cold that the oil was frozen. In the morning the aeronauts descended a few miles from Weilburg, in the Duchy of Nassau, having travelled about 500 miles in 18 hours. At that date, by the fastest coaches the trip would have consumed three days. The balloon was rechristened “The Great Balloon of Nassau” by the enthusiastic citizens of Weilburg. [Illustration: Prof. T. S. C. Lowe’s mammoth balloon “City of New York,” a feature of the year 1860, in which it made many short voyages in the vicinity of New York and Philadelphia.] In 1849, M. Arban crossed the Alps in a balloon, starting at Marseilles and landing at Turin--a distance of 400 miles in 8 hours. This remarkable record for so long a distance at a high speed has rarely been equalled. It was exceeded as to distance at the same speed by the American aeronaut, John Wise, in 1859.