48 



CANARY ISLANDS. 



with myself, a perfect image of the Peak itself, diminished 

 in size as if reflected in a convex mirror, having all the 

 distinctness and apparent solidity of reality ; not only were 

 the light and dark tracts of lava plainly defined, but even 

 the very vapors which issue from the crater were rising 

 from its summit* 



.^ 



It remained visible about fifteen minutes, and gradually 

 disappeared as the sun went down. At the time of the 

 illusion, there was scarcely a breath of wind, and the 

 lower regions of the atmosphere over the Valley of Orotava, 

 were charged with a horizontal sheet of dense vapors. 

 The next day on my return, I learned that the inhabitants 

 below had been visited by an extraordinary fall of rain. 



The foregoing phenomenon derived its origin from noth* 

 ing more than the image of the Peak projected on the 

 humid atmosphere over the ocean, which acted as a con- 

 vex mirror, and by well-known laws of refraction and 

 reflection, produced the eifect above described. The ele- 

 vated position of the image may be accounted for by the 

 passing of the light from a rarer medium to a denser one ; 

 which, to an observer in the rare medium, appears to ele- 

 vate objects that are at the bottom of the dense one, as is 

 familiarly explained with a piece of money and a bason of 

 water. 



From a similar cause, rose the story of the " enchanted 

 island of San Borondon," which formerly excited so much 

 wonder and terror. According to the reveries of pilots 

 and certain legends, it was situated in the west, in some 

 unknown part of the ocean, buried, as was supposed, 

 when invisible, in eternal fogs. " This land, represented 

 to have been governed by an archbishop and six bishops, 



