I now
unpacked the condensing apparatus, and got it ready for immediate use.
The view of the earth, at this period of my ascension, was beautiful
indeed. To the westward, the northward, and the southward, as far as I
could see, lay a boundless sheet of apparently unruffled ocean,
which every moment gained a deeper and a deeper tint of blue and began
already to assume a slight appearance of convexity. At a vast distance
to the eastward, although perfectly discernible, extended the
islands of Great Britain, the entire Atlantic coasts of France and
Spain, with a small portion of the northern part of the continent of
Africa. Of individual edifices not a trace could be discovered, and
the proudest cities of mankind had utterly faded away from the face of
the earth. From the rock of Gibraltar, now dwindled into a dim
speck, the dark Mediterranean sea, dotted with shining islands as
the heaven is dotted with stars, spread itself out to the eastward
as far as my vision extended, until its entire mass of waters seemed
at length to tumble headlong over the abyss of the horizon, and I
found myself listening on tiptoe for the echoes of the mighty
cataract.
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