An experiment of M. De Montgolfier's balloon was made today.

The sky was cloudy in some areas but clear in others. The wind was blowing from the northwest. At eight minutes past twelve, a box was pulled to signal that air was beginning to be pumped into the aerostat. This operation was completed in 8 minutes despite the wind, and the machine was ready to take off. M. the Marquis d'Arlandes and M. Pilatre de Rozier were in the nacelle.

The first intention was [crossed out: one first intended] to let the machine rise and to hold it in place with ropes, so as to test it and to study exactly how much it could carry, and to see that everything was in place for the important experiment about to be attempted.

However, being blown by the wind, the machine did not rise vertically as expected but went straight toward a path in the garden, and the ropes holding it in place were so taut that they gashed it in several places. One of those tears was more than six feet long. The machine [crossed out: having been] brought back to its stand was repaired in less than two hours.

Filled with hot air once more, the machine rose for the second time at 1:54, carrying the same people. We observed it lift off in the most majestic manner. When it reached around 250 feet in altitude, the intrepid [crossed out: brave] voyagers lowered their hats to salute the spectators. We could not help feeling a certain [crossed out: religious] mixture of awe and admiration.

Soon the navigators of the skies were out of sight, but the [crossed out: their] machine, gliding on the horizon and operating at its best, rose to at least 3,000 feet, where it remained visible. It crossed the Seine just beyond the Conference toll house. Passing between the military school and the Royal Hospital of the Invalids, it was carried into full view of all Paris.

Satisfied with this experiment and not wishing to extend the journey, the travelers [crossed out: agreed] decided to land, but seeing that the wind was carrying them toward the houses of the rue de Sèvres in the Fauxbourg St. Germain, they [crossed out: did not panic] kept a level-head and, injecting more gas into the balloon, rose again. They continued their route in the sky until they were beyond Paris.

They then landed calmly in the countryside beyond the new Boulevard, opposite the Croulebarbe Mill, without the slightest discomfort and with two-thirds of the fuel still in reserve [crossed out: to produce gas]. They could therefore have [crossed out: traveled] reached a distance three times what they did do.

[crossed out: the distance traveled] Their travel extended 4 to 5 thousand toises [Note from the translator: 1 toise = six feet, or 24,000 to 30,000 feet] in the space of 20 to 25 minutes. Written at the Chateau de la Muette at 5 in the evening. This machine was seventy feet high, had a diameter of forty-six feet and held 60,000 cubic feet. The weight it carried was approximately 16 to 17 hundred pounds.