XVI.—Mirage on the Queensferry Road

Extract

Most of us who have thought at all of mirage have thought of it as a phenomenon belonging essentially to distant parts of the world, such as the great Sahara Desert. Few of us would not be surprised to find it almost a daily spectacle on a familiar road so near our city.

You may imagine my surprise when, in the early days of April of this year, while walking westward along the Queensferry Road, and when opposite the quarry at the north end of Corstorphine Hill near the point at which the Corstorphine Hill road joins the Queensferry Road, I saw on the surface of the road, at a distance of about one and a half the spacing of the telegraph poles (they are about 50 paces apart), what appeared to be pools of clear water reflecting the green grass and foliage very clearly, and further down the road other pools. As I watched, a white horse with a rider went along, and as it passed beyond the “pools” of the mirage water (the road being perfectly dry) it was reflected, with the effect that the horse appeared to be about twice its height, as if on stilts.