The Davenport gazette. [volume] (Davenport, Scott Co., Iowa) 1841-185?, 1852-03-25
PRAIRIE MIRAGE.

surface all at once disappeared. Green
: Ids lay before US. and tall trees sprang
Up covered with thick and verdant foi-
age!
), .Co,tonwoods! cried hunter, as his
eyo rested on these still distant groves.
Tall sap!ins, ut that-Wagh! ejacala-
ted another.
'Waler thar, fellow, reckin,' remarked
"a third.
I Yes, stree! yer don't sec such sprouts
as them growing out q a dry perara.-
Look! hilioa3
i b. golles, yonder's house!
4 "a house? Que -two-threc. A house?
j --lbar's whole town, f thar's single
shanty. Gee! jim, look yonder. Wagh!"
i was riding in front with Seguin-tne
rest of the band strung out behind US. |
bad been for some time gazing upon the
ground in sort of abstraction. looking al
the snow white efilorescence. and listening
70 the crnDchiag Of my horses honfs
through its ncrustalion. These eSclama-
tory phrases caused me to raise nv eyes,
The sight that met them was one that
made me rein up with a sudden jerk. Sc
guin had done the same. and saw that the
whole band had halted with similar i'm
Ipulse.
We bad just cleared one OF the bu,tes.
that had hitherto distracted our view OIL
the great gap. This was now directly in
front Of US; and along is base on the south.
Tern side rose the walls and batt!ements Of
; city-a vas, city--jadging from its dis
ltance, and the colossal appearance of lis
architecture! We could trace the columns
IF temples, and doors, and gates, and win
j dows. aud balconies, and parapets, and
spires! There were iDany towers rising
high over the roots; and in the middle was
! temple.like structure, with its massive
dome towering far above ali the others.
! looked upon this sudden appsritlon
with feeling of increduluy. 1t was q
! dresm-an magination-n mirage. Ha.
il was The mirage.
+! But no. The mirage could not effect
sIch complete picture. There were the
roofs, and chimneys, and walls, and win
dows! There were the parapets Of tortifi-
ed houses, with their regular notches and
embrasures! II was reality. Ii aoas a
city!
Was il the Cibolo Of the Spanish Padre
!. WAS IL the city Of golden gates and bur
!. nished towers? Was the story Of tho wan
! derinr priest, after NIL, true? Who had
, proved il a fable? Who had ever pene-
lr1,ed this region, The very country in
which the ecclesiaslic represented the
golden city os Cikoio to exist?
j | saw ,hatsSegtia was puzzled-dismay-
+ ed-as we'll is myself! lie knew nothing
o. this land. lie had never witnessed a
mirage like that!
For some time we sal ia our saddles, in
: iIucnced BY strange emotions. Shall we
90 forward? Yes! We must reach water.
i We are dying Of thirst; and, impelled BY
this. we spur onward.
i We had ridden only few PAGES further,
!, when The hunters uttered sudden and
simultaneous cry. A new objeci--an OBJ
jact Of terror-was before US! Along the
mountain foot appeared string of dark
forms. They rere mounted men.
We dragged our horses to their launch
es-our whole line hallng as one man.
| "Iniunsm was the excamatonof sew
eraI.
s.Indi,ns they must be-" muttered Sc
unip. "l'here are no other here--lndia ms
i No! There never were such as them
Sec! they are not men-look! their huge
horses--,heir long guns-ttey are giants :
By hcavens!' continued he, after mo-
ment's pause. ''they are bodiless. They
are phdn,oms!
There were explanations Of terror from
the hunters behind.
Were these the inhabitants of the city?
There was a striking proportion in the CO.
lossal size of the horses and the horsemen!
For moment was awe struck, like the
rest. Only a moment. A sudden memo
nv flashed upon me. thought of the
uartz mountains and their demons. !
!, knew that the phenomena before US could
be no other-an optical deluson--a crea-
ton of the mirage.
I. | raised nv hand above my head. The
foremost of the giants initiated the notion
i put spurs to my horse and galloped
forward. So did he, as if to meet me: al
ter a few springs had passed the refract
ling angle; and, like thought, the shadowy
Igiantvanished into air!
The men had ridden forward afier me;
aud, having also passed the angle of re-
Traction. saw no more Of the phantom host.
The city, too, had disappeared; but we
could trace the outlines of many singular
formation of the trap-rock strata that ira
versed the edge of the valley.
/ The tall groves we're no longer to be
seen; hut low belt OF green willows
real willows could be distinguished along
the foot of the mountain, within the gap
Under their foliage there was something
that sparkled in the sun like sheets of sill
yer. IL ,cas ,ca!er!' 1t was the branch OF
the Prieto!
4 Our horses neighed at the sight, and
shortly after we had alighted upon its
banks, and were kneeing before the sweet
spirit of the stream.
EeuIvoouE--The French excel all ma
/. lions in studied equvoque, but give us a
, Yankee for the unintentonal kind. A
western New York farmer writes as follows
10 distinguished scientific agricul,urist, 10
whom he fei, under obligations for intro