9 o'clock
The sensations caused by the novelty of my situation , at first checked those lively and varied trains of thought which the bird 's - eye view of so many countries passing in review before us , was calculated to excite : yet , after I had become more familiar with it , I contemplated the beautiful exhibition with inexpressible delight . Besides , a glass of cordial , as well as the calm , confiding air of the Brahmin , contributed to restore me to my self-possession . The reader will recollect , that although our motion , at first , partook of that of the earth 's on its axis , and although the _ positive _ effect was the same on our course , the _ relative _ effect was less and less as we ascended , and consequently , that after a certain height , every part of the terraqueous globe would present itself to our view in succession , as we rapidly receded from it . At 9 o'clock , the whole of India was a little to the west of us , and we saw , as in a map , that fertile and populous region , which has been so strangely reduced to subjection , by a company of merchants belonging to a country on the opposite side of the globe -- a country not equal to one-fourth of it , in extent or population . Its rivers were like small filaments of silver ; the Red Sea resembled a narrow plate of the same metal . The peninsula of India was of a darker , and Arabia of a light and more grayish green . The sun 's rays striking obliquely on the Atlantic , emitted an effulgence that was dazzling to the eyes .