. The argonauts of 'forty-nine, some recollections of the plains and the diggings. ANOTHER ILLUSION. 29 ly determined upon the undertaking. We were allafoot, but the distance appeared so trifling as to giveus no concern. Well, the upshot of it was, that wedid not reach the Court House until about hurriedly carved our names upon its walls; viewed for a moment the strange landscape roundabout;gazed down upon tlie crystal waters of a generousbrook that rippled at its base, and, giving the Chim-ney an askance glance, were glad to bear away forcamp, which we did not make till far in the
. The argonauts of 'forty-nine, some recollections of the plains and the diggings. ANOTHER ILLUSION. 29 ly determined upon the undertaking. We were allafoot, but the distance appeared so trifling as to giveus no concern. Well, the upshot of it was, that wedid not reach the Court House until about hurriedly carved our names upon its walls; viewed for a moment the strange landscape roundabout;gazed down upon tlie crystal waters of a generousbrook that rippled at its base, and, giving the Chim-ney an askance glance, were glad to bear away forcamp, which we did not make till far in the night. Itrequired still two and a half days journeying beforewe stood under the shadow of the Chimney. The ex-treme transparency of the atmosphere in this sectionexplains the illusory phenomenon. Objects appearedbut a mile or two away when in reality they were oftenfrom tive to ten. Even the stars seemed to steal downfrom their wonted depths, and look vastly nearer,greater and o^rander as thev set their vigils over usfor the night. Little wonder, therefore, that such il-lusions
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectbusines, bookyear1894
