Fiita Morgana, in the Straits ef Reggio. %%g 



VII. 



An Account of the Fata Morgana ,■ or the Optical Appearance of FigureSy in the Sea and the 

 Air, in the Faro of Mefftna. IVith an Engraving. 



As when a fliepherd of the Hebrid' Iflcs 

 Placed far amid the melancholy main, 

 (Whether it be lone fancy him beguiles, 

 Or that aerial beings fometimes deign 

 To {land, embodied, to our fenfes plain) 

 Sees on the naked hill, or valley low. 

 The whilft in ocean Phoebus dips his wain, 

 A vaft aflembly moving to and fro : 

 Then all at once in air diffolves the wondrous (how. 



Thomson. 



V A R 1 O U S plillofophical writers and travellers, atid among them our Englifli travel- 

 lers Brydone and Svi'inburne, make mention of a very flriking phenomenon which occafion- 

 ally appears in the Straits of MefTma, and is known by the name of Fata Morgana, or, as 

 fome render it, the Caftles of the Fairy Morgana. The accounts differ from each other, as 

 well with refpedl to the appearances, as the concomitant circumftances which are fuppofed to 

 be neceflary for producing them. How far the effe£ls themfelves maybe fubjett to variation, 

 or to what extent the imagination of the narrators, who fpeak of the exhibition as calculated 

 to produce aftonifhmcnt, may be fubje£l to irregularity, would admit of difcuffion ; but the 

 general certainty of the events is matter of univerfal notoriety, and admits of no doubt. I 

 have not had the good fortune to meet with any of the authors who treat on this fubje£l 

 exprcfsly from their own knowledge and obfervation, till lately that the Differtation of 

 Minafi * was lent me by the Right Honourable Sir Jofcph Banks, Bart. Sec. In this 

 treatife the fails are related with much fimplicity and precifion, and the philofophical 

 reafoning of the author is kept diflinct <'rom the narrative. I have therefore chofen to col- 

 lc£l the prefent account from this author. The engraving, plate X. is copied from the 

 fame work. 



His firft chapter contains a defcriptlon of the phenomenon. " When the rifmg fun fliines 

 from that point whence its incident ray forms an angle of about forty-five degrees on the ■ 

 fea of Reggio, and the briglit furface of the water in the bay is not diilurbed either by the 

 wind or the current, the fpeftator being placed on an eminence of the city, with hisbnck to 

 the fun and his face to the fea ; — on a fudden there appear in the water, as in a catoptric 

 theatre, various multiplied objefts, that is to fay, numberlcfs ferics of pilafters, arclies', 

 caflles well delineated, regular columns, lofty towers, fuperb palaces, with balconies and 

 windows, extended alleys of trees, delightful plains with herds and flocks, armies of men 

 on foot and liorfcback, and many other llrange images, in their natural colours and proper 

 aflions, paffnig rapidly in fucceffion along the furface of the fea during the whole of the 

 (hort period of time while the above-mentioned caufes remain. 



• DilTertazione prima fopra un Fcnomeno volgarmcntc detto Fata Morgana : () fit .•'ppjirlzlone di varir,> 

 fiicccH'ivt, tizzarrc immagini che pcrlungo tempo ha fcdotti ipopoli, c dato a penfare m doiti. A (ux I^mincnza' 

 tl<ii);nor Cardin.'ilc dc Zclada. Del P. Aatomo Minafi Uomcnicanu. InKnnji^?;. 



Vol. I. — Ai^GL'sr 1797. G g " But 



