noon
From Durban we proceeded to Mauritius , remaining in Port Louis harbour two days to permit of a visit to that extraordinary natural curiosity , the Peter Botte Mountain . From Mauritius we sailed for Colombo . The weather was glorious when we left Port Louis , and for two days afterward , with moderate breezes from the south-east ; toward sunset , on our third day out , however , we began to notice signs of a change . The barometer had started to decline shortly after noon ; and as the afternoon advanced the breeze weakened , so that from a speed of fourteen knots we dropped down to a bare five , although we were under royals , had all our staysails set , and were showing our whole flight of starboard studding sails as well , the wind being about a point and a half abaft the beam . At the same time the aspect of the sky underwent a subtle change . The clear , rich blue of the vault became gradually obscured by a veil , at first scarcely perceptible , of dirty , whitish-grey haze , from which , by the time of sunset , every trace of blue had completely vanished . Gradually , too , the sun became shorn of his rays , although there was no perceptible diminution of heat , until at length when the great luminary was upon the point of sinking below the horizon , he had changed into the semblance of a huge , shapeless mass of molten copper hanging suspended in the midst of an almost equally shapeless conglomeration of flame and smoke .