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. The Alps were marked by a
white streak, though less bright than the water." By the aid of the
glass they could just discern the Danube, the Nile, and "a river which
empties itself into the Gulf of Guinea," and which Atterley took to be
the Niger; but the other streams were not perceptible. The most
conspicuous object of the solid part of the globe was the great
Desert; the whole of Africa, however, appeared of a brighter hue than
either Asia or Europe.
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