16 THE MIRAGE. [chap. i. 



of all of US ; but the time came when, by force of 

 comparison, I looked on these fellows as a sort of link 

 to civilisation. They were well enough acquainted with 

 sailors ; and the advent of a ship was of course a great 

 godsend for them, as they bartered, for tobacco, clothes, 

 and all sorts of luxuries, the goats' milk and oxen 

 which a few of them had ; but they had been savagely 

 ill-used more than once, and had occasionally retaUated. 

 The captain of them soon made his appearance, and 

 we became very amicable, and walked towards Sand 

 Fountain, signs and smiles taking the place of spoken 

 language. A letter was sent on to the Missionary at 

 Scheppmansdorf, a cotton handkerchief and a stick of 

 tobacco being the payment to the messenger for his 

 twenty-five miles' run. We passed over a broad flat, 

 flooded in spring-tides, following the many waggon- 

 tracks that here seemed so permanent as not to be 

 effaced by years. We were surrounded by a mirage 

 of the most remarkable intensity. Objects 200 yards 

 off were utterly without definition : a crow, or a bit of 

 black wood, would look as lofty as the trunk of a tree. 

 Pelicans were exaggerated to the size of ships with the 

 studding-saUs set; and the whole ground was wavy 

 and seetliing, as though seen tlu-ough the draught of a 

 furnace. This was in August, the month in which 

 mirage is most remfokable here ; it is excessive at all 

 times, and has been remarked by every one who has 

 seen the place. A year and a half later I tried on two 

 occasions to map the outline of the Bay, which was 

 then comparatively clear, but still the mirage quite 

 prevented me ; an object which I took as a mark from 



