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Show 48 NATIONAL WAGON ROAD GUIDE. Another version is, that of a party of hunters returning ron1 the mountains, .Scott beca1ne diseased from his own imprudence, and unable to proceed : was abandoned by his party, and probably soon after died ; that his bones were found scattered about, doubtless by the wolves; but recognized by t;he blankets, hunting knife . ' and tobacco box found near by, and known to have been his. The engraving is a view of Convent Rock, a portion of the bluffs, three miles south of the emigrant road. ' SINGULAR OPTICAL ILLUSION. Often upon the more extended and level portions of the plains, does the optical illusion called Mirage, appear, to startle and excite the wonder of those, who never before were witnes~es of the strange phenomena. Upon the broad alluviums of the Platte river, 1nore than upon any other portion of the route, ~rhenever the at1nosphere possessed a peculiar hazy, refractive character, near the ·urfacc of the plain, did we get the 1nost perfect exhibition ~ of these truly magical appearances. Sometimes the :surface of the plain a 1nilc distant, would appear like a lake, with the :surface of the ,vaters deeply agitated, and rolling its 'vaves towards us· but which oa att~mpt~ng to approach, receded at our ~very step, and whtch 111 hours of rapid traveling we could never reach. At other times, a llifferent effect \vas produced ; that • • NATI AL WAGON ROAD GUIDE. 49 of '~ looming," in which covered wagons, so far distant that only their tops were visible, \vould appear to be looming, or rising upward to double thei~ proper hight, and sometimes imn1ensely increased in size. But the most startling form of mirage that appeared to us, was where the object reflectljd, was entirely hid from view by a gentle curvature or roll in the surface of the plain ; then the object, or rather its phantasm, would assume an inverted ,position; wagons appeared as if suspended in the air with their tops downward, and men 'and animals all hurrying on,vard, with their feet upwards. It was upon a Sabbath morning in 1852 -the first time of our crossing the plains -we were resting for the day, upon the banks of the Platte river. The emigration of that year was immense ; disease ~nd sickness sported with the trains, and Death, all uninvited, was on many a day, and to many a company, an unwelcome guest. Westwardly, no living or moving object was visible. For a short ride, we had just mounted a horse, th 1.t lifte~ us from th'e ground· the proper hight, the best to observe the effects of the mirage ; when to our almost unutterable surprise, we saw to the west, a funeral procession of nine persons, suspended in the air, and all inverted, as if moving on their heads. Immerliately every animal ·at hand, and every wagon wheel, was occupied by our company to vvitness a burial in the air! Even the tops of the earth piles at the grave to which they were proceeding, could be seen, and as if hanging |