noon
After resting a few minutes it took wing , flew several times round the wood , and screamed loud enough to be heard across the English Channel . In a few minutes one of the same species arose out of the wood , and flew directly towards us ; it surveyed me with evident marks of displeasure , and came very near me . After flying several times round , they both directed their course to the south-west . I soon observed that the one I rode upon could not keep pace with the other , but inclined towards the earth , on account of my weight ; its companion perceiving this , turned round and placed itself in such a position that the other could rest its head on its rump ; in this manner they proceeded till noon , when I saw the rock of Gibraltar very distinctly . The day being clear , notwithstanding my degree of elevation , the earth 's surface appeared just like a map , where land , sea , lakes , rivers , mountains , and the like were perfectly distinguishable ; and having some knowledge of geography , I was at no loss to determine what part of the globe I was in . Whilst I was contemplating this wonderful prospect a dreadful howling suddenly began all around me , and in a moment I was invested by thousands of small , black , deformed , frightful looking creatures , who pressed me on all sides in such a manner that I could neither move hand or foot : but I had not been in their possession more than ten minutes when I heard the most delightful music that can possibly be imagined , which was suddenly changed into a noise the most awful and tremendous , to which the report of cannon , or the loudest claps of thunder could bear no more proportion than the gentle zephyrs of the evening to the most dreadful hurricane ; but the shortness of its duration prevented all those fatal effects which a prolongation of it would certainly have been attended with . The music commenced , and I saw a great number of the most beautiful little creatures seize the other party , and throw them with great violence into something like a snuff-box , which they shut down , and one threw it away with incredible velocity ; then turning to me , he said they whom he had secured were a party of devils , who had wandered from their proper habitation ; and that the vehicle in which they were enclosed would fly with unabating rapidity for ten thousand years , when it would burst of its own accord , and the devils would recover their liberty and faculties , as at the present moment .