34 Sunrise- Shadow 8 of Adam s Peak in Ceylon. 



lows : — Colombo observations only give the minimum that 

 morning as 73°' 6 F., and the 7 a<m. reading as 75°*5. The 

 mean curve of diurnal temperature for the month of February, 

 as determined by the Office, gives a difference of 0°*65 

 between the 6 a.m. and 7 a.m. observations ; and by subtract- 

 ing that correction from 75°'5 we get 74 0, 85 as the 6 A.M. 

 reading. 



The questions have been frequently asked — Why this lifted 

 shadow should be peculiar to Adam's Peak ? ; why a similar 

 appearance is not observed from any other mountain-top? ; and 

 why the shadow is rarely seen at sunset ? There are not many 

 mountains which are habitually visited that are either over 

 7000 feet, or that rise in an isolated, well-defined pyramid. 

 Still fewer can there be where a steady wind, for months 

 together, blows up a valley so as to project the rising morning 

 mist at a suitable height and distance on the western side to 

 catch the shadow of the peak at sunrise. The shadow is not 

 seen during the south-west monsoon, for then the mountain is 

 covered with cloud and deserted. Nowhere either do we find 

 at sunset those light mists lying near the ground which are so 

 characteristic of sunrise, and whose presence is necessary to 

 lift the shadow. 



The combination of a high isolated pyramid, a prevailing 

 wind, and a valley to direct suitable mist at a proper height 

 on the western side of the mountain, is probably only rarely 

 met with ; and at present nothing yet has been described that 

 exactly resembles this sunrise shadow of Adam's Peak in the 

 green island of Ceylon. 



But there is another totally different shadow which is some- 

 times seen from Adam's Peak, just before and at the moment 

 of sunrise, that has been mixed up in some accounts with the 

 shadow we have just described. The shadow of the base of 

 the Peak stretches along the land to the horizon, and then the 

 shadow of the summit appears to rise up and stand against 

 the distant sky. The first part seems to be the natural 

 shadow lying on the ground ; and the sky part to be simply 

 the ordinary earth shadow of twilight projected so clearly 

 against the sky as to show mountainous irregularities of the 

 earth's surface. As the sun rises, the shadow of the summit 

 against the sky gradually sinks to the horizon, and then the 

 ordinary shadow grows steadily shorter as the sun gets higher 

 in the usual manner. This can only be seen at sunrise from 

 Adam's Peak, because the ground to the east is too high and 

 mountainous to allow the shadow of the summit to fall on the 

 sky before the sun is too far down. 



The author found a similar effect, only at sunset, on Pike's 



