in France, had actually succeeded in making a short flight, or,
shall we say, an enormous "hop", in a heavier-than-air machine.

This pioneer of aviation was M. Santos Dumont. For five or six
years before his experiments with the aeroplane he had made a
great many flights in balloons, and also in dirigible balloons.
He was the son of well-to-do parents--his father was a successful
coffee planter--and he had ample means to carry on his costly
experiments.

Flying was Santos Dumont's great hobby. Even in boyhood, when
far away in Brazil, he had been keenly interested in the work of
Spencer, Green, and other famous aeronauts, and aeronautics
became almost a passion with him.

Towards the end of the year 1898 he designed a rather novel form
of air-ship. The balloon was shaped like an enormous cigar, some
80 feet long, and it was inflated with about 6000 cubic feet of
hydrogen. The most curious contrivance, however, was the motor.
This was suspended from the balloon, and was somewhat similar to
the small motor used on a motor-cycle. Santos Dumont sat beside
this motor, which worked a propeller, and this curious craft was
guided several times by the inventor round the Botanical Gardens
in Paris.

About two years after these experiments the science of
aeronautics received very valuable aid from M. Deutsch, a member
of the French Aero Club. A prize of about L4000 was offered by
this gentleman to the man who should first fly from the Aero Club
grounds at Longchamps, double round the Eiffel Tower, and then