CHAPTER IX.
OF THE FATA MORGANA AND THE MIRAGE.
There is a very remarkable spectacle to be occasionally seen between the coasts of Italy and Sicily, which the inhabitants call Fata Morgana, or Fairy Illusion.
The shores on each side are rich and beautiful in the extreme, and the narrow strait being very deep, looks always blue and fresh. According to the best accounts of the Fata Morgana, it appears only when the sun is elevated at an angle of 45°. It consists in a reflection of the objects on the shore more or less magnified, multiplied, distorted, and often decorated with the hues of the rainbow on the surface of the sea itself, and the portion of the atmosphere which is in immediate contact with it. The inhabitants of the neighbourhood look on it as a good omen, and whenever it appears, run down to the sea-side joyously crying out, Morgana! Morgana!
FATA MORGANA
Those who have seen it, declare that nothing can be more beautiful. The scene must look as wonderful as anything you have ever read about in a fairy tale. Castles, palaces, temples, of the utmost magnificence, houses, hills and valleys, woods, green pastures, all of the brightest colours, and indeed every one of the beautiful objects on shore, beautified tenfold. You will see in the [plate] the attempt of an intelligent traveller to convey a notion of this glorious phenomenon.
THE MIRAGE.