A WONDERFUL MIRAGE.

Motueka Star, Volume I, Issue 7, 3 September 1901, Page 4

A WONDERFUL MIRAGE.

Is Bristol City Reflected over the Mtjir Glacier ?

The Silent Cty, the popular name for the mirage which is frequently seen over the Muir Glacier.- in Alaska, is a gie.it scientific mystery, and may well be termed tho eighth wonder of the world.

A sc'e.nt/fic expedition will leave British Columbia this summer with the object of finally settling this mystery, and it is understood that after investigating it on the spot members of the expedition will conduct an enquiry in Eoghvnd. The mirage takes the form of a great c'.tv, which hangs suspended over or near the Muir Glacier. It changes its f '-in frequently, and becomes distorted in every conceivable manner. Professor Bruce gave a new and peculiar interest to the mil-age when in his work on " Alaska. Mines " hsyiecJared it was a reflection of the anciefQlcity of Bristd, five thousand miles away. An old prospector named Willoughby had already taken a photograph of the mirage, which showed a considerable resemblance to Bristol.

The Duke of the Ahroxz', the royal P.lar explorer, saw the ALu r Glac.er mi-age while on his way to explore M unt St. Ellas, in 1897. He thus describes it it :

:: The Southern ridges of Mount St. El.as t-.tood out clearly, merging in the Log chain of Ohaix Hill.-, which, as it approached the Malaspina Glacier, asMimed a series of strange shapes,

which we were no longer able t > recognise. Their outlines underwent changes before our eyes, .assuming the forms of spires, belfries, mi-siarets, and architectural outline of fantastic cathedrals, all of which slowly appeared and disappeared: to be succeeded by buildings of lesser height severely rectilinear."

Captain Walbran, of the Canadian Government steamer Quadra, is among those who affirm that, 1 effected like a great, photograph five miles long on the top of Muir Glacier, is a representation of the city of Bristol. Captain Walbran, whose vessel it was that took Lird Mint), the Canadian GovernorGeneral and his retinue to Alaska, recently said that tin's coming summer the existence of the Sdent City would be shown beyond doubt. Arrangements are now being made for the charter of a vessel to take the scientists to the spot. The expedition will make a complete investigation of the mil age, and will make arrangements to take the time so that it will he possible to know whether the weather conditions at the glac : er are the same as those simultaneously prevalent at Bristl. If it be raining and cl ,udy at Brist ,1 and clear at the Silent City, they hold it cannot be a reflection of Bristol.

Professor Garratt P. Serviss, writing on the subject in the New York Journal, asks, " what must happen if we assume that a. mirage c-rti reader an E i-lish c ty visible .a the air in Al-

aska. Bristol lies in latitude about 51 g degrees north and in. longitude about degrees west of Greenwich. The Muir Glacier is in latitude about 59 degrees north and in longitude about 136 degrees west of Greenwich. The difference in latitude is considerable, while that in longitude is sufficient to separate them by more than onethird of the way round the earth along a parallel to. the equator. But, since they lie so far north, the real distance between them is not one-third of the maximum circumference of the earth, but only about 5,000 miles. " Over this distance, then, it must be assumed that the light rays proceeding from Bristol pass through the air bent in such a manner that they virtually follow the curvature of the earth, and are then, through some peculiar refractive property of the atmosphere above the glacier, brought to the eyes of the spectator upon its surface.

" Now at the distance of five thousand miles, the city of Brisiol, assuming its diameter' to be about two miles, would, if seen direct, appear as a mere speck, barely visible to the eye, if well lighted. In orderthat its image should be so clear!}" seen in the miaage as to eniable the spectator to recognise familiar features of the ciy a strong magnification would be necessary, and this magnification would have to lie effected in the atmosphere as a result of refraction. Such an effect is possible, or at least conceivable.

" Two difficulties remain, although possibly avi explanation may be found for them. In the first place, it may be asked, is it probable that the peculiar refractive condition of the air needed to bend the light rays in the neeessaredirection to connect England with Alaska can simultaneously exist over a distance of five thousand miles, and, secondly, if such a condition does occasionally exists, how happens it that a particular city is seen, instead of a general view of a more extended range of country ?