ours older. At nine o'clock I
secured an excellent set of sights for my longitude,--having taken the
precaution to set my watch by the ship's chronometer before parting
company with the launch,--and it was depressing to find, after I had
worked out my calculations, how little progress we had made during the
twenty-one hours since the previous noon. As the morning wore on the
mistiness that I had observed in the atmosphere at daybreak passed away,
but the sky lost its rich depth of blue, while the sun hung aloft, a
dazzling but rayless globe of palpitating fire. A change of some sort
was brewing, I felt certain, and I was somewhat surprised that, with
such a sky above us, the atmosphere should remain so absolutely
stagnant.

As the day wore on, the thin, scarcely perceptible veil of vapour that
had dimmed the richness of the sky tints in the early morning gradually
thickened and seemed to be assuming somewhat of a distinctness of shape.
I just succeeded in securing the meridian altitude of the sun, for the
determination of our latitude, but that was all. Half an hour after
noon the haze had grown so dense that the great luminary showed through
it merely as a shapeless blur of pale, watery radiance, and within
another hour he had disappeared altogether from the overcast sky. Still
the wind failed to come to our help; the atmosphere seemed to be dead,
so absolutely motionless was it; and although the sun had vanished
behind the murky vapours that were stealthily and imperceptibly veiling
the firmament, the heat was so distressing that the perspiration
streamed from every pore, the manipulation of the oars grew more and
more languid, and at length, as though actuated by a common impulse, the
men gave in, declaring that they were utterly exhausted and could do no
more. And I could well believe their assertion, for even I, whose
exertions were limited to the steering of the boat, felt that even such
slight labour was almost too arduous to be much longer endured. The
oars were accordingly laid in, we went to dinner, and then the men flung
themselves down in the bottom of the boat, and, with their pipes
clenched between their teeth, fell fast asleep, an example which was
quickly followed by Lindsay and myself, despite all our efforts to the
contrary.

When I awoke it was still breathlessly calm, and I thought for a moment
that night had fallen, so dark was it; but upon consulting my watch I
found that it still wanted n