the MIEAGE. 437 
iri, I'/ human beings are sometimes pictui;ed in tlia 
highly jrrobable, on a consideration of all 
V that phenomenon on Souter 
V'btii' vapours must have hovered round 
V'’ej of the mountain when the appearances were 
■ 'tttp,. probable that these vapours may liava 
with the shadowy forrns which seemed to 
Vi 'ttiiie 1 particular operation of the sun’s 
^’‘■h some singular, but unknown, retractive 
ons tlren taking place in the atmosphere. 
\ THE MIRAGE. 
Si*' phenomenon,’' which was remarked 
Si ^ French savants belonging to the 
'^‘th-o, in the hot and sandy desert between 
described by him as resulting 
image of tlie cerulean sky intermixed with 
St the neighbouring villages appearing to 
fc ^’tist "'ith the most beautiful sheeting of water, 
S 2 ® by T islands, in its liquid expanse, tantalizing 
, onfaithful representation of what the thirsty 
C'orc^^ly desires. _ 
k anim ™ interesting travels, introduces the 
Hi d!la‘™^*¥^ description of this phenomenon. “ Here 
n hJtko] we procured asses for our party, 
, >ii^ ^'ke Rosetta, began to rc-ci-oss the desert, ap- 
th^ °uean of sand, but flatter and lirmer as ta 
fil ^ iaoff,, before. The Arabs, uttering their harsh 
chattering by the side of our asses; 
atid V out ‘ Raschidr we perceived 
Nk'''‘'se 1 apparently upon the oppo.rite side of 
or sea, that covered all the inten'cuing 
Sx the t; the city. Not having in my own 
'r "slH.ti see'"^^’ doubt as to the certainty of its' being 
bs tall minarets and buildings of Rosetta, 
C'k«st hy of dates and sycamores, as perfectly 
JtL detau by a mirror, insomuch that even the 
tire architecture, and of the trees, might 
delineated, i applied to the Arabs to be 
^*liho(j*^ tnanner to pass the water. Our in- 
£h a Greek, and therefore likely to have been 
