MIRAGE.
Dahr-bi . . AR. Narnaish-i-ab, . PERS.
Si-kot, Chitram, . HIND. Sahr-ab, . . . . „ This phenomenon is the unreal waters alluded to in Jeremiah xv. 18 ; the parched ground of Isaiah xxxv. 7. It is said that beasts are never deceived by the mirage. But, to man, the distress occasioned in Arabia by a deficiency of water is frequently increased by the tantalizing appearance presented by the mirage. The light refracted in the rarefied air immediately above the heated ground gives rise to the resemblance of an ex tensive lake, and the thirsty traveller advancing towards it finds the flattering delusion recede before him. In the early part of the morning, while some dew remains on the ground, the per ception is remarkably strong ; every object is then also magnified, so that shrubs appear as trees, and under them frequently appear their images inverted, as if reflected from the surface of water. On the west of Jacobabad, in the Kalat terri tory, is a place famed for this deceitful appearance. It is there called the Lumpani Ab, or the shining of the minstrel's water. Dr. Bellew on the 8th January 1872 sighted two lofty mounds set together in the midst of the hard, dry clay desert, with shrubby bushes at their bases fringing pools of water, all remarkably clear and distinct. But as he approached near, the illusion disappeared, and the semblance dissolved to the reality,—two heaps of clay on the sides of a dry well-shaft, a few scattered salt-worts, and a patch of soda efflorescence. The tradition which gives this par ticular place its name is that a Lum or travelling minstrel, when crossing this desert, deceived by the appearance of so much water, emptied the' cruse under whose weight he was toiling, and perished in the desert from thirst.
In the desert of Dhat and Umra-Sumra, where the shepherds pasture flocks, and especially where the alkaline plant is produced, the stratification is very horizontal, and produces much Of the mirage. It is this illusion to which the inspired writer refers, when he says, The mock pool of the desert shall become real water.' The inhabit ants of the desert term it Chitram, literally the picture, by no means an unhappy designation. This optical deception is well known to the Rajputs ; is called See-kot or winter castles, because chiefly visible in the cold season; hence possibly originated the equally illusory and de lightful Chateau en Espagne, so well known in Europe.
It is to be seen in every part of British India, just as Eothen describes (p. 271) the likeness of a fresh-water lake, like a broad sheet of calm water that stretches far towards the south, stretching deep into winding creeks, and hemmed in by jutting promontories, and shelving smooth off towards the shallow side. On its bosom the reflected fire of the sun lay playing, and seeming to float upon waters deep and still.' Though,' says he, I knew of the cheat, it was not till the spongy foot of my camel had almost trodden in the seeming waters that I could undeceive my eyes, for the shore-line was quite true and natural. I soon saw the cause of the phantasm. A sheet of water, heavily impregnated with salts, had filled this great hollow, and when dried tip by evaporation had left a white saline deposit that exactly marked the space which the waters had covered, and thus sketched a true shore-line. The minute crystals of the salt sparkled in the sun, and so looked like the face of a lake that is calm and smooth.' The refraction of the atmosphere in the Eastern Archipelago is often marked. Dr. Bennett relates (ii. p. 72) that tho ship's boats, while floating on a calm sea, at a distance from the ship, were magnified to a great size. The crew, standing lip in theni, appeared as masts or trees, and their arms in motion as the wings of windmills ; while the neighbouring islands (especially at their low and tapered extremities) seemed to be suspended in the air some feet above the ocean-level. On another occasion the setting sun assumed the form of the hull of a ship, and in a few moments changed to a perfectly square shape.—Bennett's 1Vhating Voyage,. Eothen; Burton's Mecca, iii. 23; Tory's Rajasthan, i. 18 ; Col. Chesney, i. 572.
MIRAJ-i-MAHOMED, or Laddu-i-Mahomed, is a Muhammadan festival held on the 27th Rajab, in commemoration of the ascent to heaven of Mahomed. It is alluded to in the 17th chapter of the Koran, and Katib al-Wakidi says it occurred on the 17th Ramzan. On the occasion the angel Gabriel mounted Mahomed on the horse Burak, and conveyed him to heaven. Miraj is from the root Urj.