nine o’clock
Thus it seemed evident that a greater part of the uneasiness attending the removal of atmospheric pressure had actually worn off , as I had expected , and that much of the pain endured for the last two hours should have been attributed altogether to the effects of a deficient respiration . `` At twenty minutes before nine o'clock -- that is to say , a short time prior to my closing up the mouth of the chamber , the mercury attained its limit , or ran down , in the barometer , which , as I mentioned before , was one of an extended construction . It then indicated an altitude on my part of 132,000 feet , or five-and-twenty miles , and I consequently surveyed at that time an extent of the earth 's area amounting to no less than the three hundred-and-twentieth part of its entire superficies . At nine o'clock I had again lost sight of land to the eastward , but not before I became aware that the balloon was drifting rapidly to the N. N. W . The convexity of the ocean beneath me was very evident indeed , although my view was often interrupted by the masses of cloud which floated to and fro . I observed now that even the lightest vapors never rose to more than ten miles above the level of the sea . `` At half past nine I tried the experiment of throwing out a handful of feathers through the valve .