The Lebanon express. (Lebanon, Linn County, Or.) 1887-1898, 1889-01-25

NOUN i AIN MYTHS.


TaAe Probable Cause OF Feelings Born OF
Ignoranca and Superstition.
Turning back TO the heather and the
savage, we see at once whence comes
the old feeling about mountains, u feel
ing born of dark shadows that disap-
pear in the light Of knowledge. We
have all heard of the Brocken and It's
witch revels, made famous by the
genius of Goethe. The Hartz mount
aims are so rich in superstitious le-
gends, not that they have more inpos-
ing features of their own than many
other less celebrated mountains, but
because, standing out by themselves
on the great northern flats of Ger
many, they powerfully impressed the
Imagination of the low1anders around,
aud because, this district being one of
the last converted to Christianity, they
long continued to be a retreat for
pagan rites. and thus gained their
grim reputation as seat of WITCH
craft. Here. as is well known, APP
pears the Specter of the Brocken,
when. at sunrise or sunset, the amazed
traveller happens to see magnificent
reflection of his own figure thrown
upon the sheet of mist vailing some
opposite peak. The most extraordi-
nary of all such appearances seem to
be that observed at Adams Peak, in
Ceylon, as described for us through a
recent expedition undertaken by the
Hon. Ralph Abercromby and two other
men of science:
This mountain rises in an abrupt
cone. 1000 feet above the chain and
1859 feet above sea level. titles near
an elbow in the main range. while a
gorge runs up from the northeast just
TO the west of it When, then, the
northeast monsoon blows morning
mist mp the valley, light wreaths of
condensed vapor pass to the west of
the peak, aud catch the shadows at
sunrise. The party reached the sum
nit on the night of February 21, 1886,
s amid rain. mist and wind. Early next
morning the foreglow began to bright
en- the under surface of the stratus
cloud with orange; patches of white
mist flled the hollows, and sometimes
masses of mists coming from the val
ley. enve1oped them with condensed
yapor At $50 a m. the sun
peeped through a chink in the
clouds. and they saw the
pointed shadow of the peak lying on
the misty land. Soon a complete pris-
matte circle of about eight degrees
diameter, with the red outside, formed
round the summit of the peak as a
center. The meteorologist, knowing
that with this bow there ought to be
spectral figures, waved his hand about.
and Immediately found giant shadowy
arms moving in the center of the rain
bow. Two dark rays shot upward and
outward on either side of the CEN
ter, and appeared to be nearly in a
proIongatfon of the lines of the slope
of the peak below. Three times with
in quarter of an hour this appearance
was repeated as the mist drove up in
proper quantities, and fitful glimpscs
of the sun gave sufficient light
TO- throw a shadow and form a
circular rainbow In every case
the shadow and bow were seen
IN front of land, and never against the
sky. When the sun rose pretty high,
the. characteristic peeuliarity of the
shadow was beautifully observed. As
a thin wreath of condensed vapor
came up the valley at a proper height,
a resplendent bow formed round the
shadow, while both seemed to stand
up majestically in front of the observ-
ers, and then the shadow fell down
upon the land, and the bow vanished
as the mist passed on. About an hour
later the sun again shone out, but
much higher and stronger than before,
and then they saw a brighter and
sharper shadow of the peak, this time
encircIed by a double bow; and their
own spectral arms were again visible.
The shadow, the double bow, and
giant oforms combined to make this
phenomenon the most marked in the
whole world. .''-Ascott r. Hope.