THE BOTTOM OF THE BOWL 



55 



down in this hollow of the desert ? Yes, 

 From a picturesque point of view it has the 

 most wonderful light, air, and color imaginable. 

 You will not think so until you see them 

 blended in that strange illusion known as 

 mirage. And here is the one place in all the 

 world where the water-mirage appears to per- 

 fection. It does not show well over grassy or 

 bushy ground, but over the flat lake-beds of the 

 desert its appearance is astonishing. Down in 

 the basin it is accompanied by a second illusion 

 that makes the first more convincing. You 

 are below sea-level, but instead of the ground 

 about you sloping up and out, it apparently 

 slopes down and away on every side. You are 

 in the centre of a disk or high point of ground, 

 and around the circumference of the disk is 

 water palpable, almost tangible, water. It 

 cannot be seen well from your horse, and fifty 

 feet up on a mountain side it would not be 

 visible at all. But dismount and you see it 

 better ; kneel down and place your cheek to the 

 ground and now the water seems to creep up to 

 you. You could throw a stone into it. The 

 shore where the waves lap is just before you. 

 But where is the horizon-line ? Odd enough, 

 this vast circling sea does not always know a 



Mirage. 



The water 

 illusion. 



