These atmospheric phenomenas on
the Nubian Desert are not only very perfect imitations of real lakes,
but have on many occasions inveigled expeditions away, to perish of heat
and thirst. A little time before my expedition to Central Africa a body
of Egyptian troops crossing this desert found their water almost at a
boiling point in the skins, and nearly exhausted. They beheld, a few
miles distant, an apparent lake overshadowed by a forest, and bordered
with verdure and shrubbery. Although told by the guide that it was an
illusion, they broke ranks, started off in pursuit of the sheet of
water, chasing the aerial phantom, although it receded with the pace of
their approach. At last they sunk down from thirst and fatigue, and
died! Twelve hours on the Nubian Desert without water means a certain
and terrible death; and even to this day, having been near such an end,
with all of its indescribable anguish, I seldom raise a glass of water
to my lips that I do not recall a day when I lay upon the burning sand,
awaiting with impatience the moment that should snap asunder the vital
cord and give peace to my burning body.
A mirage certainly presents an incomparable scenic effect. Once in its
midst, you are encompassed by an imponderable mirror. It reflects the
rocks, the mountains, the stray mimosa trees, and reproduces by inverted
mirage every prominent object of the extended landscape. It has the blue
of polished platinum, and lies like a motionless sea, stretching away
from the craggy bluffs.
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