OCEAN PLAINS 



107 



perience we think we see the ship in the air 

 by the straight ray, whereas in reality we see 

 the ship on the water down below the horizon 

 line, by the bent ray. 



The sea air, when it becomes thickened by 

 heat or is moisture-laden, often shows as a 

 silver or gray or pale blue mist. Thin sheets 

 of it may be seen in the early morning hover- 

 ing above the surface of the water, making per- 

 haps strange illusions — strange likenesses to 

 things seen upon the land. For frequently 

 mist or fog will throw a yellowish reflection 

 on the water giving it a look like drifted sand; 

 and the patches of blue sky reflected in spots 

 through the yellow produce the strange effect 

 of blue lakes in a desert. The space directly 

 overhead usually shows no definite patches of 

 mist and from its diffused white light it would 

 seem as though the upper air hold the mist in 

 solution. It is certainly a moist upper air that 

 is responsible for such effects as " the white 

 horizon "; and it is the same air, hanging above 

 the still sea and reflected in it, that gives the 

 pearl-like surface of the water so much fancied 

 by our modern marine painters. 



A morning mist veil at sea stretching across 

 the illuminated cast, making the rose of the 

 clouds and the azure of the sky look faint and 



Effect of 

 mitt. 



The white 

 horizon. 



