The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-08-24

l this was the magic city. Between thls point and the Colorado River. the des-
 ert seemed to be full of life. The palo- verde, which is an evergreen tree, was
 plentiful, as well as the mesquite and , the cactus. The cactus blooms are yellow, and here and there we meet
 with the poppies, all in red. From the
 prickly pear cactus the Indians gather fruit which is very wholesome.
 Along the Colorado River the mirage | is frequent Sometimes the objects are reversed and appear to be upside down, sometimes vertical-that is standing
 one above the other. The scientists say that these mirages are caused by
 the heating of the sand, the atmos- phere being of much higher tempera-
 ture near the surface, where it expands rapidly, but leaves the greater volume of air above dense; >that the sun strlK- | ing the air obliquely forms an angle or
 light because it passes uniformly | through the dense air, but when reach ing the diffused air it pierces more rap idly and inclines straight toward the earth instead of obliquely, with ten dency to turn back toward the denser l
 a reflection. The objects on the earth are shadGwed in the lower strata and reflected from that upon the higher.
 And yet this was not satisfactory explanation to us, for the mirage as
 tonished and amazed us after the sun had gone,
 One evening we were sitting on the steps of a ranch cabin, when, looking
 toward the south, we saw magnlll- cant monastery We were surprised that we had not seen it before. It was
 then growing dark, and we could see it until total darkness closed. In the | morning it was gone. The next morning we were aroused before day light, in order that we might see the train at The Needles. about eighty miles south We could see the cars plainly, as we'll as the men. The whole scene seemed but a few hundred yards away. This, we were told, may be ob- served almost any morning in the year.
 The next surprise the mirage gave us was near the Pagago Indian Reser- vation. One morning we were pre- sented the picture of a lively city. The houses and the markets were plain, and the inhabitants, wearing their | serapes and sombreros. Many were going to church. the water carriers were hurrying about, men on mustangs were going here and there, and there was no mistaking the fact that 1t was the town of Magdalena, Mexico, a | hundred miles or more south.
 But the most wonderful of all the scenes is that of the Jim Jam Valley, | in the San Bernardino Mountains, over the Arizona line in Southern California. | From Yuma to the mountains we pass ed many scenes, the most interesting being the mud volcanoes" The mud is thrown up from many openings, some springs spouting several feet In | height There is a continual making and destruction of mud pies These so-called volcanoes are sometimes De- low sea level and generally quite cold, though a few are boiling hot Both are accompanied by rumbling noise. One sees the skeletons of many Dlrus that in their search for water have per- ished by the fumes of the volcanoes
 We saw the remains of mocking birds,
 golden eagles and the Mexican snow birds.
 | When we entered the Jim Jam Valley through Dead Mans Pass the sun was shining brilliantly. We had not gone far when we witnessed strange things. The walls of the cliffs are frightfully
 scared and the peaks twisted Into tor tured forms Not a. living creature or
 any kind inhabited the valley. which IS
 only twenty miles or so in length and
 probabl half as wide. So far as we
 could tell, when In our right senses, not n plant or living thing of any nature inhabited this valley. Yet, we saw
 many lakes and rivers and foliage, ana birds and water fowl which vanished
 as we proceeded and formed agaln De-
 yond, We saw strange beasts coming toward us in all directions which maoe us restless and the women of our party almost hysterical. The women were all correspondents of Eastern ana l Southern papers and were prepared for | the worst
 | Reyond we saw Indians in their ca- noes. and thought to reach them, put they. too, vanished In their stead we
 saw a mountain rise in lake or silver.
 Great birds of different hues seemed
 to hover over the lakes; beautiful trees,
 with fantistic forms, hung over the
 water The mountain seemed to move and as it moved, It's summit was
 crowned by a great ball of blue fire,
 which was surrounded by halo of
 1igbt We were astonlshed to see the
 mountain nearing us. Of course we
 knew it was an illusion, but when the
 mountain top appeared to break off and to be falling upon us, our nerves
 were quite unstrung. The women were almost prostrated. We knew that storm was brewing, so we hastened hack The storm broke before we
 reached Dead Mans Pass the light
 ning flashing on all sides of us, forming in crosses, stars, halos and other fam tastic forms. The thunder crashed from wall to wall and seemed to tear the mountains and the very atmos- phere. ! Upon leaving the valley, feeling of | relief came to us, and we all agreed l that if it had not been named we cer- tainlv would call it the Jim Jam Val lev" We all had one feeling, that of l a fascination about the desert, and those who have lived there always l want to return. It Is only fair to say 1 that the same kind of land, known as the desert, is now growing the orange, | the lemon, and other tropical fruits in both California and Arizona. It is man who changes the face of nature. ! When we take into account what has