# XVII explained — Five Weeks in a Balloon

> Chapter companion for Five Weeks in a Balloon by Jules Verne.

## What happens

The travelers enjoy a peaceful meal on the ground after cooking elephant meat in a field oven. Dr. Ferguson inspects the balloon and finds it in perfect condition. The next morning, they sight the Mountains of the Moon and decide to descend. The anchor catches an elephant, which tows the balloon across the prairie until they are forced to shoot it to stop.

## Themes in this chapter

### Exploration and Discovery

The travelers reach the Mountains of the Moon, an unexplored region, and discuss the conflicting reports of earlier explorers.

### Survival and Resilience

The crew cooks elephant meat in a field oven, replenishes water, and prepares for a prolonged halt, demonstrating resourcefulness.

### Humanity vs. Nature

The elephant tows the balloon, and the travelers must shoot it to regain control, highlighting the struggle between human ingenuity and wild forces.

## Character check-ins

### Joe

Prepares a meal using an extempore oven, expresses delight at the journey, and later joyfully drives the elephant team.

### Dr. Samuel Ferguson

Examines the balloon thoroughly, sets notes in order, sketches the landscape, and decides to descend and anchor.

### Dick Kennedy

Returns with partridges and an oryx haunch, proposes settling in the forest, and later shoots at the elephant to stop it.

### Victoria

The balloon is inspected after the storm; the silk and gutta percha are intact, and the hydrogen quantity is unchanged.

## Key lines

> A journey without danger or fatigue, your meals when you please; a swinging hammock all the time! What more could a man ask? And there was Kennedy, who didn’t want to come!

Joe thinks the trip is easy and comfortable, and he mocks Kennedy for having been reluctant to join.

_Joe's lighthearted reflection on the journey's comforts._

> Here we are at last, in an unexplored country! Captain Burton pushed very far to the westward, but he could not reach those celebrated mountains; he even denied their existence, strongly as it was affirmed by Speke, his companion.

Dr. Ferguson announces they have reached the Mountains of the Moon, noting that Burton doubted their existence while Speke believed in them.

_The doctor highlights the historical dispute between explorers._

> Get up—go ahead, old fellow! Here is a new style of travelling!—no more horses for me. An elephant, if you please!

Joe cheerfully urges the elephant forward, delighted by this novel mode of travel.

_Joe's humorous reaction to being towed by an elephant._

## Links

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- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/five_weeks_in_a_balloon_se/chapters