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spoken of, and I do not wish to deprive him of the honor of a very
singular invention.
"
On the spot which I intended each of the smaller casks to occupy
respectively during the inflation of the balloon, I privately dug a hole
two feet deep; the holes forming in this manner a circle twenty-five
feet in diameter. In the centre of this circle, being the station
designed for the large cask, I also dug a hole three feet in depth. In
each of the five smaller holes, I deposited a canister containing
fifty pounds, and in the larger one a keg holding one hundred and fifty
pounds, of cannon powder. These--the keg and canisters--I connected in
a proper manner with covered trains; and having let into one of the
canisters the end of about four feet of slow match, I covered up the
hole, and placed the cask over it, leaving the other end of the match
protruding about an inch, and barely visible beyond the cask. I then
filled up the remaining holes, and placed the barrels over them in their
destined situation.
"Besides the articles above enumerated, I conveyed to the depot, and
there secreted, one of M. Grimm's improvements upon the apparatus for
condensation of the atmospheric air. I found this machine, however,
to require considerable alteration before it could be adapted to the
purposes to which I intended making it applicable. But, with severe
labor and unremitting perseverance, I at length met with entire success
in all my preparations. My balloon was soon completed. It would contain
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