File:Arizona, the wonderland; the history of its ancient cliff and cave dwellings, ruined pueblos, conquest by the Spaniards, Jesuit and Franciscan missions, trail makers and Indians; a survey of its (14592552239).jpg

Identifier: arizonawonderla00jame (find matches)
Title: Arizona, the wonderland; the history of its ancient cliff and cave dwellings, ruined pueblos, conquest by the Spaniards, Jesuit and Franciscan missions, trail makers and Indians; a survey of its climate, scenic marvels, topography, deserts, mountains, rivers and valleys; a review of its industries; an account of its influence on art, literature and science; and some reference to what it offers of delight to the automobilist, sportsman, pleasure and health seeker. By George Wharton James. With a map and sixty plates, of which twelve are in colour
Year: 1917 (1910s)
Authors: James, George Wharton, 1858-1923
Subjects:
Publisher: Boston Page company
Contributing Library: Robarts - University of Toronto
Digitizing Sponsor: University of Toronto

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elf it isbeautiful and attractive, and, when one fully understandsthe chimerical nature of its presentments, knows its un-reality, yields not to its deceptive persuasiveness, believesnot its promises that will never be fulfilled, it is as harm-less as a babys smile. Mirages are as many and as varied as are men. Thereare thousands of different kinds or types. To merelyattempt to suggest them all is impossible. A commonform is where the shimmering sand and quivering atmos-phere deceive the heat-exhausted and water-famishedtraveler into the belief that, just ahead, lies a lake ofcool, delicious, refreshing water. How the parched lipslong for it; how the dry tongue craves and prays for it;how the fainting steps awaken to new life under thestimulus of this wicked, cruel, deceiving lie! Yet werethe traveler to be able to look upon it as it actually is —a remarkable natural phenomenon — he could enjoy itsattractiveness and suffer no ill effects from its elusive andevasive deceptions. 442
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The Realized Mirage 443 Then there are mirages of waving palms, tropicalgardens, towering trees, stately palaces, wide-spreadingfields of corn, of wheat, of barley, of alfalfa, wherehealthy and fat cattle graze in contented security. And,indeed, there is nothing that man has seen in actualitysomewhere, but may be reproduced in this world of heat-distortion and mental mystification. Was it a mirage that Dr. A. J. Chandler saw as hestood on the foothills of one of the great ranges over-looking the Salt River Valley ? While other people sawnothing but /long stretches of sandy waste, dotted hereand there with palmillo, cactus, agave and creosote-bush,he saw green fields of alfalfa, farms, orchards, homes,the streets of a prosperous city, and in the heart of it alla gloriously beautiful building, not an oriental palace,with jeweled towers, sculptured minarets, and goldendome; not a Greek temple, adorned with masterpiecesof Phidias and Praxiteles; not a Gothic Cathedral withtowers and heave

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