INTRODUCTION: VERNE TAKES OFF
1. English translations in this introduction are my own, with the exception of quotes from the U.S. edition of Jean Jules-Verne’s biography.
2. A full scan of “Un voyage en ballon” is accessible at http://www.truescans.com/Verne.htm, likewise a scan of Anne T. Wilbur’s 1852 English translation, “A Voyage in a Balloon,” possibly the first English translation of anything by Verne. The story made its first book appearance in a collection of his short fiction, Dr. Ox (1874), where it was mildly revised and retitled “A Drama in the Skies” (“Un Drame dans les airs”).
3. The third paragraph of the 1874 revision, retitled “A Drama in the Skies,” replaces hydrogen with gaz d’éclairage (coal gas). Even so, other hydrogen references remain, including a later allusion to the balloon’s gas as hydrogen: La raréfaction de l’air dilatait considérablement l’hydrogène du ballon (As the air grew thinner, the balloon’s hydrogen expanded considerably).
4. Hetzel’s original 1853 edition and some later reprints add a qualifier to the novel’s subtitle: Drafted from Dr. Fergusson’s Notes.
CHAPTER 1
1. French editions add a footnote converting this to 62,500 francs—equivalent to about $250,000 in today’s dollars.
2. Latin: “Onward and upward!”
3. French editions add a footnote translating this for Gallic readers: Bulletins de la Société royale géographique de Londres.
4. The name is spelled “Kokburn” in French editions—apparently a fictional character. A later Verne novel, A Floating City (1870), includes a similarly named American statistician, one “Cokburn.”
5. This foreshadows another oblivious Englishman in Verne’s fiction, Phileas Fogg of Around the World in Eighty Days, a man who could travel down “the whole wonderful valley of the Ganges without even thinking to look at it.”
6. Details of their achievements can be found in the “Gallery of Heroes” at the back of the book.
7. To jibe with standard spellings and to aid access in the “Gallery of Heroes,” the translation sometimes tweaks Verne’s spelling and alphabetizing.
1. Curiously, French editions read: “découvreur (discoverer).”
2. German: “Newsletter.”
3. German: “Journal of General Geography.”
CHAPTER 3
1. A footnote in French editions gives the Gallic equivalent: about five feet eight inches.
CHAPTER 4
1. A footnote in French editions gives the equivalent in 4-kilometer leagues: 172.
2. A footnote in French editions gives the equivalent in 4-kilometer leagues: 625.
3. The novel is consistently admiring of Barth’s professionalism, praising the “tremendous exactitude” of his maps in chapter 30 and their “exceptional accuracy” down to the “tiniest details” in chapter 39. Modern commentators agree, Hazel Mary Martell calling him “more scientific and methodical than earlier explorers” (26).
4. French editions use just two terms for blacks in Africa: Nègre (Negro) and Noir (Black). They’re always capitalized, as are other nationalities and ethnicities in the novel: Scot, Arab, American, Frenchman, Englishman, German, etc. Unfortunately, early British translations often substituted pejorative slang terms.
5. Today known as Tabora.
6. Called Lake Ukéréoué (or Oukéréoué) in French editions.
CHAPTER 5
1. Dialects used along the upper Niger.
2. A footnote in French editions gives the equivalent in 4-kilometer leagues: 50.
3. Muslim nomad.
CHAPTER 6
1. A favorite destination back then for aeronauts in fiction and satire—as in Cyrano de Bergerac’s States and Empires of the Moon (1657) or Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Unparallelled Adventure of One Hans Pfaall” (1835).
2. Spelled “Mittchell” in French editions; apparently they’re fictional characters.
CHAPTER 7
1. A footnote in French editions gives the equivalent of 1,661 cubic meters.
2. French editions give continental equivalents in the footnote attached to this paragraph: for 340,000 cubic feet, 20,000 cubic meters; for 22 tons, 20,000 kilograms.
3. A footnote in French editions gives equivalents for Gallic readers: “roughly 100 liters—a gallon contains 8 pints and equals 4.453 liters.”
CHAPTER 8
1. In French editions this item follows “Kennedy’s arsenal” in the chapter heading, unlike the sequence in the chapter itself.
2. These are U.S. tons (“short tons”). French editions give 800 tonneaux.
3. A footnote in French editions gives a rough equivalent in 4-kilometer leagues: about 1,400.
4. A footnote in French editions gives the equivalent in 4-kilometer leagues as follows: “100 leagues. The doctor always rounds his statute miles to the nearest sixtieth of a degree.”
5. Kennedy is a Scot, and it seems improbable that he would swear by an Irish saint, but so he does in French editions, both here and in chapter 25. At the time of writing Verne had visited Scotland only once. NB: earlier English translations sometimes substitute St. Andrew or St. James.
CHAPTER 9
1. Ancient Greek: “Eureka!” Or in English, “I’ve got it!”
2. The planet is named after the Roman god Mercury, patron of thieves, trickery, and financial gain.
CHAPTER 10
1. A footnote in French editions gives the equivalent of 1.5 cubic meters.
2. Oddly, the 1863 and 1865 Hetzel editions give “concave,” as do many reprints. Likewise with the reference to a “convex cone” four paragraphs later.
3. Both the 1863 and 1865 Hetzel editions give 1/481, a discrepancy corrected in reissues.
4. A footnote in French editions gives the equivalent of 10° centigrade, adding: “The gases increase in volume by 1/267 per 1° centigrade.”
5. A footnote in French editions gives the rough equivalent of 62 cubic meters. NB: many French editions feature a printer error here—1,614 instead of 1,674.
6. Or 100° centigrade, per a footnote in French editions.
7. In French editions footnotes give equivalents for Gallic readers: 70 cubic meters of oxygen … 140 cubic meters of hydrogen … 210 cubic meters in all.
8. A footnote in French editions gives the equivalent of 1 cubic meter.
9. A footnote in French editions gives the equivalent of ⅓ of a cubic meter.
CHAPTER 11
1. A footnote in French editions gives the equivalent in 4-kilometer leagues: 12½.
2. Tube at the bottom of the envelope.
3. Footnotes in French editions give these equivalents: 3,250 liters … more than 8 metric tons of iron.
4. In both the 1863 and 1865 Hetzel editions, a footnote gives this equivalence: 9,166 gallons = nearly 41,250 liters. However, reissues often fudge these figures. Some, including the Rencontre and Livre de Poche texts, give 966 gallons = nearly 41,250 liters, possibly a printer error that has been handed down through the years. The 1965 Lidis edition attempts a questionable fix, giving 966 gallons = 4,347 liters. In short, there seems to be a need for French scholars to undertake more aggressive textual work with Verne’s novels.
CHAPTER 12
1. In French editions this item follows “the doctor’s maps” in the chapter heading, unlike the sequence in the chapter itself.
2. A footnote in French editions gives an equivalent: “About 5 centimeters. The drop in pressure is almost 1 centimeter for every 100 meters of altitude.”
3. In place of “nonsense syllables,” the French reads onomatopées—onomatopoeias, or words deriving from the sounds associated with their meanings. It could be argued that Joe’s “oohs, ahs, and wows” aren’t onomatopoeias but simply familiar interjections.
4. In place of “arabica” and “robusta,” the French original gives synonyms in use at the time: bourbon and rio-nuñez.
5. A footnote in French editions gives the equivalent of 10° centigrade.
6. German: The Newest Discoveries in Africa.
7. A footnote in French editions gives the equivalent in 4-kilometer leagues: 50.
CHAPTER 13
1. Fever-reducing drug from the bark of the cinchona tree. It proves a lifesaver in part 3 of Verne’s novel The Mysterious Island.
2. Well into the nineteenth century, many physicians believed that epidemics were caused by “miasmas,” or toxic air. In theory, then, patients could recover by rising above the bad air, i.e., by relocating to some mountain resort—or, in Dick Kennedy’s case, by heading skyward in a balloon. In the 1880s, however, germ theory replaced miasmatic theory, and researchers soon established that mosquito-borne microorganisms were the cause of malaria.
CHAPTER 14
1. German: “blue buck.”
2. Guild in the City of London.
3. Per the Fahrenheit scale. A footnote in French editions gives the centigrade equivalent: fourteen degrees.
4. A footnote in French editions gives the equivalent in 4-kilometer leagues: nearly 200.
CHAPTER 15
1. Plazas surrounded by huts.
2. Medicine men.
3. From Myanga, a region in Kenya.
4. Hardened resin.
5. It’s brewed from corn.
CHAPTER 16
1. Verne may be alluding to the chat-tigre (wildcat), as he does in chapter 31. True tigers aren’t native to Africa.
CHAPTER 17
1. “Get a move on!”
2. French texts give camaldores, apparently stemming from chapter 10 in the French edition of Gordon-Cumming’s memoirs, La vie au desert: cinq ans de chasse. The English original, Five Years of a Hunter’s Life, gives “cameel-dorn,” a Dutch synonym for camel thorn trees.
3. Equivalent to about $3,500 in today’s dollars.
CHAPTER 18
1. On the map in chapter 30, Lake Victoria is called “Lake Ukéréoué.”
CHAPTER 19
1. In French editions the chapter heading places this item after “ascensions in lighter-than-air vehicles,” unlike the sequence in the chapter itself.
2. A footnote in French editions gives the equivalent in 4-kilometer leagues: over 125.
CHAPTER 20
1. The translation follows the 1863 and 1865 Hetzel editions. However, some online texts and print reissues (e.g., the Rencontre, Livre de Poche, and 1965 Lidis editions) substitute thirty leagues—meaning that the Victoria would be doing a good seventy-five miles per hour.
2. Better known to tourists as Big Ben.
CHAPTER 21
1. In French editions this item follows “Help! Help!” in the chapter heading, unlike the sequence in the chapter itself.
2. French editions give notre langue. However, Joe would actually be coping with two languages: although his native tongue is English, he would be calling out in French.
CHAPTER 22
1. The translation follows the 1863 and 1865 Hetzel editions. However, some online texts and print reissues (e.g., the Rencontre, Livre de Poche, and 1965 Lidis editions) give “compassionate lips,” almost certainly an error.
CHAPTER 23
1. Compare Joe’s introduction early in chapter 6, which claims he “never grumbled or got in a bad mood.”
CHAPTER 24
1. A footnote in French editions gives an equivalent for Gallic readers: about 13½ liters.
2. Per the Fahrenheit scale. A footnote in French editions gives the centigrade equivalent: 50°.
3. Early on Fergusson is described as a “fatalist,” but here and in chapter 26 he seems more given to soul-searching than many of Verne’s leading men. In tight spots he examines his own role, his own contributions to the crisis, rather than simply blaming destiny, the fates, or his luck.
CHAPTER 25
1. Per the Fahrenheit scale. French editions also give the centigrade equivalent for Gallic readers: 70°.
CHAPTER 26
1. French editions give 122° in the chapter heading, although the chapter itself gives 140°, and a footnote supplies its centigrade equivalent.
2. Per the Fahrenheit scale. A footnote in French editions supplies the centigrade equivalent: 45°.
3. Per the Fahrenheit scale. A footnote in French editions gives the centigrade equivalent: 60°.
4. Xerophobia.
CHAPTER 27
1. Sandstorm that spins like a cyclone.
2. A footnote in French editions gives the rough equivalent in 4-kilometer leagues: 100.
CHAPTER 28
1. Per the Fahrenheit scale. A footnote in French editions gives the centigrade equivalent: 69°.
1. A footnote in French editions gives the rough equivalent in 4-kilometer leagues: 625.
2. Per the Fahrenheit scale. A footnote in French editions gives the centigrade equivalent: 100°.
CHAPTER 30
1. This curious tactic resurfaces in The Dog, the General, and the Birds (2003), an animated film from French director Francis Nielsen. The film offers a fanciful explanation for the 1812 burning of Moscow: a Russian general sets hundreds of birds on fire, sends them through the town, and drives off Napoleon’s troops.
CHAPTER 31
1. In Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Seas, Captain Nemo gives harpooner Ned Land a similar rebuke. The Nautilus encounters a pod of whales in part 2 of the novel, and Land wants to pursue them “just to keep my hand in.” Speaking for Verne, Nemo replies: “It would be killing just for the sake of killing. I’m well aware that’s a privilege reserved for mankind, but I won’t tolerate such bloodthirsty pastimes. When your colleagues, Mr. Land, destroy decent, harmless creatures like the southern right whale or the bowhead whale, they’re guilty of criminal behavior. Consequently they’ve already eradicated the stock in Baffin Bay, and they’ll ultimately wipe out a whole class of beneficial animals.”
Verne’s ecological worries were well founded. Today, according to worldwildlife.org, barely three hundred bowheads remain, and “seven out of the thirteen great whale species are classified as endangered or vulnerable, even after decades of protection.” As for African fauna, the same website lists elephants as currently vulnerable, with black rhinos, gorillas, and chimpanzees cited as endangered.
CHAPTER 32
1. Gypaetus barbatus, the only species in the genus. Although some Victorian translations may feature condors or gyrfalcons, the only accurate English rendering is “bearded vulture.”
CHAPTER 33
1. In nineteenth-century French usage, alligator and cayman (caïman) were synonyms for crocodile, per Abel Boyer and G. Harmonière’s Nouveau dictionnaire (1834) at http://books.google.com. Accordingly, Verne’s text uses the three terms loosely and interchangeably. Even so, many American readers are well aware that alligators and caymans are New World fauna and not native to Africa. Therefore, to reduce confusion, the translation favors more generic terms: “gator” for alligator, “croc” or “crocodilian” for caïman.
1. They used the arrows in hunting, fishing, and warfare. The latex, or milky fluid, from several species of spurge (Euphorbia candelabrum, E. cereiformis, E. heptagone, E. mauritanica, E. striata, and E. virosa) served as a traditional source of poison throughout central and southern Africa.
CHAPTER 36
1. Cloaks with hoods.
2. The 1863 and 1865 Hetzel editions, plus the print reissues from Rencontre, Lidis, and Livre de Poche, all use a question mark here instead of an em dash. Many online texts omit punctuation entirely at this point.
CHAPTER 37
1. Jousting competition where a rider snags a dangling ring with a lance.
2. Unable to trace; from the context “souahs” are a breed of tropical tree.
3. Weeds cultivated as a foodstuff.
CHAPTER 38
1. About $25.00. A footnote in French editions gives an equivalent for Gallic readers: 125 francs.
2. The year 1758 is historically correct and is so given in the 1863 and 1865 Hetzel editions. However, some French reissues (including the Rencontre and Livre de Poche texts) give 1753, a printer error.
3. Tuareg clansmen.
CHAPTER 39
1. Shrubs belonging to the pea family.
2. Verne recycles this metaphor shortly after the Nautilus cuts the Antarctic Circle in Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Seas.
3. Gothic romance published in 1794; its setting is a creepy castle in the Apennine Mountains.
4. Horns composed of ringlike segments.
CHAPTER 41
1. In French editions this item follows “the marabout El-Hadj Umar Tall” in the chapter heading, unlike the sequence in the chapter itself.
2. In Greek myth Sisyphus was eternally doomed to push a boulder up a hill, only to have it roll down again.
3. Muslim holy man.
CHAPTER 42
1. Earlier, in chapter 7, Fergusson twice gives the weight of this equipment as just 700 pounds.
1. In Greek myth he grew weaker when lifted into the air, stronger when back on the ground.
2. Per the Fahrenheit scale. A footnote in French editions gives the centigrade equivalent: 100°.
CHAPTER 44
1. The translation follows the Livre de Poche text, which gives les félicitations et les embrassements dont furent accablés les trois voyageurs. However, the 1863 Hetzel edition gives qui furent réservés aux trois voyageurs [in store for the three travelers], and the 1865 Hetzel edition offers a slight modification, dont réservés aux trois voyageurs. Even so, Arthur B. Evans reports that his copy of an 1867 Hetzel edition agrees with the Livre de Poche text—which, in turn, agrees with all other reissues and online texts that I’ve seen. Evidently furent accablés was a deliberate revision by Verne or his publisher. Again, there seems to be a need for French scholars to undertake more aggressive textual work with Verne’s novels.