FATA MORGANA. A singular aerial phenomenon, seen in the straits of Messina. When the rising sun shines from that point whence its incident ray forms an angle of about forty-five degrees on the sea of Reggio, and the bright surface of the water in the bay is not disturbed either by the wind or current, when the tide is at its height, and the waters pressed up by currents to a great elevation in the middle of the channel, the spectator being placed on an eminence with his back to the sun, and his face to the sea the mountains of Messina rising like a wall behind it, and form. ing the back ground of the picture; on a sad den there appears in the water, as in a ca toptric theatre, various multiplied objects ; that is to say, numberless series of pilasters, arches, castles, well delineated, regular columns, lofty towers, superb palaces, with balconies and windows, extended alleys of trees, de lightful plains, with herds and flocks, armies of men on foot, on horseback, and many other images in their natural colours, and proper actions, passing rapidly in succession along the surface of the sea, during the whole of the short period of time while the above-men tioned causes remain. All these objects, which
are exhibited in the Feta Morgan; are proved by the accurate observations of the coast and town of Reggio, by P.- Minasi, to be derived from objects on shore. If the air be slightly hazy and opaque, and at the same time dewy, and adapted to form the kis, the above men tioned objects will appear only at the surface of the sea, as in the first case, but all vividly coloured or fringed with red, green, blue, and other prismatic colours. The delusion in the desert, between Alexandria and Cairo, men • timed by M. Mange, which represented vil lages surrounded by water, when they were, in fact, in the midst of burning sands, is at tributed to the same cause.