--"So ends this strange, eventful
history."
When the Brahmin terminated his narrative, the extended map beneath
them was already assuming a distinct and varied appearance:--
"The Brahmin, having applied his eye to the telescope, and made a
brief calculation of our progress, considered that twenty-four hours
more, if no accident interrupted us, would end our voyage; part of
which interval I passed in making notes in my journal, and in
contemplating the different sections of our many peopled globe, as
they presented themselves successively to the eye. It was my wish to
land on the American continent, and, if possible, in the United
States. But the Brahmin put an end to that hope, by reminding me that
we should be attracted towards the Equator, and that we had to choose
between Asia, Africa, and South America; and that our only course
would be, to check the progress of our car over the country of
greatest extent, through which the equinoctial circle might pass.
Saying which, he relapsed into his melancholy silence, and I betook
myself once more to the telescope. With a bosom throbbing with
emotion, I saw that we were descending towards the American continent.
When we were about ten or twelve miles from the earth, the Brahmin
arrested the progress of the car, and we hovered over the broad
Atlantic. Looking down on the ocean, the first object which presented
itself to my eye, was a small one-masted shallop, which was buffetting
the waves in a south-westerly direction.
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