﻿250 MIRAGE. August, 



clear and sweet water. The interior beach of this 

 curious pond was formed of fine clean gravel, and the 

 hill itself apparently consisted of sand and gravel 

 with a coating of earth. From its summit, I saw 

 many similar heights to the eastward and south- 

 eastward, that is, in an inland direction, and they 

 seemed to rise, like islands, out of a great inlet 

 or bay, for the low land connecting them, if such 

 existed, was not visible. I looked long on the 

 scene, but could not satisfy myself whether what I 

 beheld was actually water, or merely the mirage of 

 a low fog simulating an inlet of the sea. I was 

 inclined to consider that the latter was the real 

 state of the case, since, during the whole afternoon, 

 the hills we had passed, as well as the one on which 

 I then stood, seemed equally to rise out of a hazy 

 sea, when we were at the distance of only four or five 

 miles from them. Could I have convinced myself 

 that the isolated peaks I saw were really islands, I 

 should have thought that I was on the borders of 

 the extensive Eskimo Lake, laid down as pro- 

 blematical in Sir John Franklin's chart, but whicli 

 I now believe does not exist. The Indians, upon 

 whose report it was indicated, meant, most pro- 

 bably, by the expressions they used, the sea itself, 

 or perhaps the inlet of Liverpool Bay, which lies 

 further to the westward. Round the lower part 

 of the hill, about eight or ten feet above the then 



