A PHANTOM CITY.
[TO VIZ [EDITOR Or TOO "sescrwron.*1
Sin,—Would you kindly give prominence in your widely read columns to the enclosed account, taken from the Galway Observer, of a mirage which was seen off the Connemara coast on the 2nd inst., so that perhaps some of your readers could offer suggestions as to what town was thus really brought into view? In addition to this account I am able to add a few particulars which I obtained from witnesses of the phenomenon, among these being the Rev. Father Gleeson, of Roundstone, from which place the mirage was also seen. The spectacle appeared on the north-west side of the Skiards, —rocky islets off the mainland. The town appeared to be a small Irish seaside resort, and, in the opinion of the coast- guards who viewed the sight through their telescopes, most resembled Bray. A sandy beach and promenade were the most prominent features, and the people in groups on the promenade most resembled a holiday crowd. The phenomenon appeared not as a shadow, but as though a real town existed on the Skiards, with all its natural and various colours dis- tinguishable. Some fishermen in boats, attending to their "lobster pots," saw the spectacle and went towards it. As they approached, the spectacle receded, and they returned home more frightened than charmed by what they had seen.
am, Sir, &c., H. F. OXLEY. Railway Hotel, Recess, Connemara.
"From Ballyconnelly, a town on the wild Connemara coast, some miles beyond Clifden, comes a strange tale which reminds one of the Spectre Island of which Gerald Griffin sung, and which was said to be sometimes visible on the verge of the western horizon out in the Atlantic to those standing on the coast of the Aran Isles. Last Sunday evening a small town, well studded over with houses, was observable on that sea about six or seven miles westward of Ballyconnelly, and, like Brazil of old, the beautiful spectre showed lovely and dim,' being first seen by some young people from the shore. Soon hundreds gathered to witness the enchanting spectacle, which they state was composed of houses of different sizes and varying styles of architecture. Here and there there was a dismantled dwelling, as if even this strange land of Sunshine on the crest of the western ocean had been the scene of misery and devastation. The phantom city was visible from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m, when it gradually vanished from the view, leaving the spectators, many of whom believed that it was a small town that had come to stay, dismayed and disappointed. It dis- appeared slowly and mystically, and, like 'Hy Brazil' of old, the sea was as calm as it had been before the twilight enshrouded it. The crowd, gazing anxiously out on the ocean from the shore, wondered if their eyes had not betrayed them, but they had all seen the vision in the broad daylight only a few miles from the shore, and they regard the legend of 'Hy Brazil' as no.longer an imaginative story from the region of fables. Others regard the phenomenon as the reflection in the water of some city far away."
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