328 



stice was, according to the distance of the 

 animal, from three to four minutes. Where 

 tufts of mauritia palm-trees were found united 

 in long stripes, the extremities of these green 

 stripes were suspended like the capes, which 

 were for so long a time the object of my obser- 

 vations at Cumana *. A well-informed person 

 assured us, that he had seen, between Calabozo 

 and Uritucu, the image of an animal inverted, 

 without there being any direct image. Niebuhr 

 made a similar observation in Arabia. We 

 several times thought we saw at the horizon the 

 figures of tumuli and towers, that disappeared 

 by intervals, without our being able to discern 

 the real shape of the objects. They were 

 perhaps hillocks, or small eminences, placed 

 beyond the ordinary visual horizon. I shall not 

 mention those tracts destitute of vegetation, 

 which appear like large lakes with an undulat- 

 ing surface. This phenomenon, the most an- 

 ciently observed, has occasioned the mirage to 

 receive in Sanscrit the expressive name of desire 

 (thirst) of the antelope. We admire the frequent 

 allusions in the Indian, Persian, and Arabic 

 poets, to the magical effects of terrestrial refrac- 

 tion. It was scarcely known to the Greeks and 

 Romans. Proud of the riches of their soil, and 

 the mild temperature of the air, they would have 



* See vol iii, p. M2— 554. 



