144 LETTERS OX NATURAL MAGIC. 



and exhibited every appearance of the most per- 

 fect solidity." 



One of the most remarkable facts respecting 

 aerial images presented itself to Mr. Scoresby in 

 a later voyage which he performed to the coast of 

 Greenland in 1822. Having seen an inverted 

 image of a ship in the air, he directed to it his 

 telescope ; he was able to discover it to be his 

 father's ship, which was at the time below the 

 horizon. " It was," says he, " so well defined, 

 that I could distinguish by a telescope every sail, 

 the general rig of the ship, and its particular 

 character; insomuch, that I confidently pro- 

 nounced it to be my father's ship, the Fame, 

 which it afterwards proved to be ; though, on 

 comparing notes with my father, I found that our 

 relative position, at the time, gave a distance from 

 one another very nearly thirty miles, being about 

 seventeen miles beyond the horizon, and some 

 leagues beyond the limit of direct vision. I was 

 so struck with the peculiarity of the circumstance, 

 that I mentioned it to the officer of the watch, 

 stating my full conviction that the Fame was then 

 cruising in the neighbouring inlet." 



Several curious effects of the mirage were 

 observed by Baron Humboldt during his travels 

 in South America. When he was residing at 

 Cumana, he frequently saw the islands of Picuita 

 and Boracha suspended in the air, and sometimes 

 with an inverted image. On one occasion he 

 observed small fishing-boats swimming in the air, 

 during more than three or four minutes, above 

 the well-defined horizon of the sea ; and when 

 they were viewed through a telescope, one of the 

 boats had an inverted image accompanying it in 



