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from its being the first we had seen since our departure from Batavia.
I watched it attentively until sunset, when it spread all at once to
the eastward and westward, girting in the horizon with a narrow strip
of vapor, and looking like a long line of low beach. My notice was soon
afterwards attracted by the dusky-red appearance of the moon, and the
peculiar character of the sea. The latter was undergoing a rapid change,
and the water seemed more than usually transparent. Although I could
distinctly see the bottom, yet, heaving the lead, I found the ship in
fifteen fathoms. The air now became intolerably hot, and was loaded with
spiral exhalations similar to those arising from heat iron. As night
came on, every breath of wind died away, an more entire calm it is
impossible to conceive. The flame of a candle burned upon the poop
without the least perceptible motion, and a long hair, held between the
finger and thumb, hung without the possibility of detecting a vibration.
However, as the captain said he could perceive no indication of danger,
and as we were drifting in bodily to shore, he ordered the sails to
be furled, and the anchor let go. No watch was set, and the crew,
consisting principally of Malays, stretched themselves deliberately upon
deck. I went below--not without a full presentiment of evil. Indeed,
every appearance warranted me in apprehending a Simoom. I told the
captain my fears; but he paid no attention to what I said, and left me
without deigning to give a reply. My uneasiness, however, prevented me
from sleeping, and about midnight I went upon deck.--As I placed my foot
upon the upper step of the companion-ladder, I was startled by a
loud, humming noise, like that occasioned by the rapid revolution of a
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