Note 73 — The Fourth Book.
Reading edition
One of the Arabs whom we saw from afar, and who was mounted upon a Camel, seemed higher than a tower and to be moving in the air, at first this was to me a strange appearance, however it was only the effect of refraction. The Camel which the Arab was upon touched the ground like all others. There was nothing then extraordinary in this phenomenon, and I afterwards saw many appearances exactly similar in the dry Countries.
Niebuhr.
“They surprized you, not indeed by a sudden assault; but they advanced, and the sultry vapour of noon thro’ which you saw them, increased their magnitude.”
Moallakat. Poem of Hareth.