MIRAGE IN THE DESERT. 395 



terrible situation that a man can be placed in, and one 

 of the greatest sufferings that a human being can sustain : 

 the eyes grow inflamed, the tongue and lips swell, a 

 hollow sound is heard in the ears, which brings on 

 deafness, and the brain appears to grow thick and inflamed. 

 All these feelings arise from the want of a little water. 

 In the midst of all this misery, the deceitful morasses appear 

 before the traveller at no great distance something like a 

 lake or river of clear fresh water. If, perchance, a 

 traveller is not undeceived he hastens his pace to reach it 

 sooner : the more he advances towards it the more it recedes 

 from him, till at last it vanishes entirely, and the deluded 

 passenger often asks where is the water he saw at no great 

 distance ? He can scarcely believe that he was so deceived ; he 

 protests that he saw the waves running before the wind, and 

 the reflection of the high rocks in the water." Elsewhere 

 M. Belzoni gives the following further particulars of 

 this desert mirage : " It generally appears like a still lake, 

 so unmoved by the wind that everything above is to be 

 seen most distinctly reflected by it. If the wind agitate 

 any of the plants that rise above the horizon of the 

 mirage the motion is seen perfectly at a great distance. 

 If the traveller stands elevated much above the mirage 

 the apparent water seems less united and less deep ; for 

 as the eyes look down upon it, there is not thickness 

 enough in the vapour on the surface of the ground to 

 conceal the earth from the sight ; but if the traveller be 

 on a level with the horizon of the mirage he cannot see 

 through it, so that it appears to him clear water. By 

 putting my head first to the ground, and then mounting 

 a camel, the height of which from the ground might 

 have been about ten feet at the most, I found a great 

 difference in the appearance of the mirage. On approach- 

 ing it, it becomes thinner, and appears as if agitated by 

 the wind, like a field of ripe corn. It gradually vanishes 





