194 LIEUT.-COLONEL SYKES ON THE ATMOSPHERIC TIDES 



frequent. In March, April, and May, for several years, I was encamped for a week 

 or more on the crest of the Ghats. About the middle of March fogs commence to 

 rise, at uncertain intervals, from the Konkun. As the heat increases, the intervals 

 become shorter ; and from the first ten days in May I usually found myself enveloped 

 in a thick fog, three or four times a-week, from dark until 9 or 10 o'clock the next 

 day, by which time the heat of the sun had always redissolved the partially con- 

 densed moisture, and cleared the air. These fogs, when they were accompanied by 

 westerly winds, rose rapidly from the Konkun, and flew with great swiftness east- 

 ward. At sunset there would not be a speck upon the sky ; and within two hours, 

 by a fall in the temperature of the air, the aqueous vapour from the sea, suspended 

 over the Konkun, would be condensed, become visible, and shut out objects from view 

 at a few yards' distance. When there was a want of wind from the west, or light 

 easterly winds prevailed, the condensed vapour did not rise from the Konkun to the 

 Ghats, but appeared at daybreak lying upon the former, 1000 or 2000 feet below 

 the level of the crest of the latter, like a sea of milk in repose, on which the prismatic 

 colours of the rainbow were occasionally visible after the sun rose. All above would 

 be perfectly bright and clear, and the sky a fine blue. The tops of mountains rose 

 from this singular sea like islands, and the stupendous barriers of the Ghats looked 

 like a magnificent rocky shore. As the sun got high, the fog would be seen to creep 

 up the chasms of the Ghats and midway along the slopes of the ranges bounding 

 the valleys, at the top of the Ghats, and the Konkun would gradually reappear. 



It was during such periods that I had several opportunities of witnessing that sin- 

 gular phenomenon the circular rainbow, which from its rareness is spoken of as of 

 possible occurrence only. The stratum of fog from the Konkun on some occasions 

 rose somewhat above the level of the top of a precipice forming the north-west scarp 

 of the hill fort of Hurreechundurghur, from 2000 to 3000 feet perpendicular, without 

 coming over upon the table land : I was placed at the edge of the precipice just 

 without the limits of the fog, and with a cloudless sun at my back at a very low 

 elevation. 



Under such a combination of favourable circumstances, the circular rainbow ap- 

 peared quite perfect, of the most vivid colours, one half above the level on which I 

 stood, the other half below it. Shadows in distinct outline of myself, my horse, and 

 people appeared in the centre of the circle as in a picture, to which the bow formed 

 a resplendent frame. My attendants were incredulous that the figures they saw un- 

 der such extraordinary circumstances could be their own shadows, and they tossed 

 their arms and legs about, and put their bodies into various postures, to be as- 

 sured of the fact by the corresponding movements of the objects within the circle ; 

 and it was some little time ere the superstitious feeling with which the spectacle 

 was viewed wore off. From our proximity to the fog, I believe the diameter of the 

 circle at no time exceeded fifty or sixty feet. The brilliant circle was accompanied 

 with the usual outer bow in fainter colours. I witnessed these phenomena on the 



