about
eleven o'clock
The morning of the day appointed for the visit to the ship Orion rose as pure , and clear , and beautiful , as though no party of pleasure was intended , but not more pure , and clear , and beautiful , than the weather always is during the dry season of tropical climates , which , with the cool and refreshing sea-breeze , is one of the delights of those climates that I forgot to particularise in its proper place . With us of the temperate section of this round world the case is altogether different -- the day appointed a week beforehand for a party of pleasure being almost invariably rainy , blowy , haily , snowy , drizzly , foggy , cold , uncomfortable , villainous weather ; or else so hot that the mere act of breathing is too much for feeble human nature -- and this , too , whether the party is made for sailing , riding , rambling about in the woods , or even for dancing , or tea-drinking , or whist-playing in a warm , comfortable room . This is , perhaps , one reason why geographers call our part of the globe the temperate zone ; because all our proposed and anticipated pleasures , that depend in the slightest possible degree upon the weather , are sure to be tempered and qualified by some unexpected botheration on the part of the weather . The party from the shore accordingly arrived alongside the Orion about eleven o'clock in the forenoon , without accident by sea or land . The governor was in high spirits and full regimentals ; Madame Governor was as stately , dignified , and bejewelled , as became a lady of her station and rank ; the two daughters sparkled with gems and fluttered with silks , thinking of the impression they were to make upon the officers of the strange ship ; the priest , in sacerdotal dignity , and with his weight giving the boat three streaks heel to starboard , sat hoping some contingency might take place that would elicit a present from the Yankee commander ; the young officers , but three in number , including , of course , the military aspirant to the fair Isabella 's hand and fortune , thought of but little or nothing except their pretty persons and dashing regimentals . Isabella , who expected no pleasure from this party of pleasure , but the reverse , as it would compel her to be for some hours in the company of a man she had so much reason to detest , sat in the stern sheets , with the fat clergyman directly in front , and forming an impenetrable rampart against the impertinent gallantries of the coxcomb Gregorio . She wore no jewels or ornaments , and from her pensive and serious expression of countenance , might have passed for an Athenian tribute-maiden whom the annual ship was about to carry to the den of the Minotaur .