bf OhjeSis ahove the Horizon. 15 1 



during the time of advancing, the fame row once more in the 

 horizon entirely whole, without any interval or break, he 

 would ccrtainlv not have believed his own eyes. 



Between this phicnonienon and that where the coafts ap- 

 pear elevated in the like manner, I could obferve no diticrencc 

 in regard to the caufes which produce them ; and the fame 

 identity is applicable to thofe phaenomena which I obferved 

 in another moor in the fame neighbourhood about two years 

 before; only that the trees which formed the horizontal 

 boundary Hood aftually in a line, fo that the whole row 

 fcenied floating in the heavens at once, and not in portions 

 at a time. All thcfe phaenomena then are identically the 

 fame, and it follows from the circumftances here defcribed, 

 that they do nottlcpend on refraction. The caufe alone lies 

 in the rays of light reficfted from the vapours, which in con- 

 fer]ucnce of this reflection appear fo dazzling to the eve, that 

 they conceal the objects lituated below, and prefent the fame 

 appearance as the heavens. The fun, as already faid, was 

 towards that fide where I faw the phenomenon, and his al- 

 'titude was coufiderable, as I obfen^cd the above transformation 

 on the i8lh of July, between the hours of 9 and 10. While 

 I obferved from the vallcv fevcral of thefe broken parts of the 

 firfl row of trees, the fun was in a perpendicular dire<5lion 

 over them. The elevation of the mafies above the ground in- 

 creafcd in general more and more as niv fituaiion became 

 gradually lower, and according as each niafs of the objefts 

 to be changed approached nearer to a perpendicular pofition 

 under the fr.n, in confequence of my advancing in a hori- 

 zontal direction. As 1 defcended, I had between me and the 

 objects a (tratum of theatmofphere, which was always denfcr, 

 and confequently more proper for reflecting the rays. When 

 I advanced in the liori/.intal jikin, this reflc£lion took place 

 more in a ftraight line ; and when I came into fuch a poiition 

 that the vapours threw back the rays of light to the level of 

 the fumniits of the molt diliant trees, I faw notliing but this 

 luminous vapour, \yhich loft itfcll'in the heavens, and formed 

 with them one continued field. When 1 had reached the 

 lowelt point of the plain, where I f)und a favourable point of 

 view, foine of the foremofl trees con!d then raife ihemrelves 

 from the ground, becaule they were nearer tome ; and to com- 

 pcnfate for this greater proximity, the rays of light mult 

 have pervetrated a nmeh thicker Itratum oi the atmofphere, 

 ::nd mult have proceeded from a point fo nuicli nearer the 

 perpendicular pofilion under the fun. 

 Tlie prclcnee of the fuii'is the princij)al condition of this 

 K 4 j)li;enomcnoa : 



