nine o'clock
On the third day of my voyage the river began to rise most amazingly -LRB- you have all heard , I presume , of the annual overflowing of the Nile -RRB- , and on the next day it spread the whole country for many leagues on each side ! On the fifth , at sunrise , my barge became entangled with what I at first took for shrubs , but as the light became stronger I found myself surrounded by almonds , which were perfectly ripe , and in the highest perfection . Upon plumbing with a line my people found we were at least sixty feet from the ground , and unable to advance or retreat . At about eight or nine o'clock , as near as I could judge by the altitude of the sun , the wind rose suddenly , and canted our barge on one side : here she filled , and I saw no more of her for some time . Fortunately we all saved ourselves -LRB- six men and two boys -RRB- by clinging to the tree , the boughs of which were equal to our weight , though not to that of the barge : in this situation we continued six weeks and three days , living upon the almonds ; I need not inform you we had plenty of water . On the forty-second day of our distress the water fell as rapidly as it had risen , and on the forty-sixth we were able to venture down upon _ terra firma _ . Our barge was the first pleasing object we saw , about two hundred yards from the spot where she sunk .