nine
o'clock
In about an hour more we had the doors secured , and every thing arranged in its place , when , cutting the cords which fastened us to the ground , by means of small steel blades which worked in the ends of other screws , we rose from the earth with a whizzing sound , and a sensation at first of very rapid ascent , but after a short time , we were scarcely sensible of any motion in the machine , except when we changed our places . '' After the apprehensions of Atterley , occasioned by the novelty and danger of his situation , had partly subsided , he was enabled , with mingled awe and admiration , to contemplate the magnificent spectacle beneath him . As the earth turned round its axis , during their ascent , every part of its surface came successively under view . At nine o'clock , the whole of India was to the west of them ; its rivers resembling small filaments of silver , and the Red Sea a narrow plate of the same metal . The peninsula of India was of a dark , and Arabia of a light , grayer green , and the sun 's rays striking on the Atlantic , emitted an effulgence dazzling to the eyes . On looking , some time afterwards , through the telescope , they observed the African Continent , at its northern edge ; fringed , as it were , with green ; `` then a dull white belt marked the great Sahara or Desert , and then it exhibited a deep green to its most southern extremity . '' The Morea and Grecian Archipelago now fell under their telescope , and gradually the whole Mediterranean , and Arabian Gulf -- the great media separating Africa from Europe and Asia ; `` the political divisions of these quarters of the world were of course undistinguishable , and few of the natural were discernible by the naked eye .