Article December 2, 1967 ISSUE

"It isn't there at all!"

ELEANOR SHIPMAN MINER

A few years ago my husband and I in a party of friends were making our first trip to a fishing village in Baja California. Driving through the rugged mountain and desert countryside, we suddenly rounded a curve and saw a beautiful body of water on our right. Trees and plants were growing on its shores, rocks jutted out of the water, and there was a habitation on the distant side. Thinking we had arrived at the Gulf of California, we consulted our map. It showed no body of water near us, and it indicated that the gulf would be located to the left of the highway instead to the right.

We continued looking at the scene before us for a few moments as we drove along, until one of the party looked back and exclaimed, "Why, it isn't there at all! It's a mirage!" It was most difficult for us to believe that the lovely scene—water, trees, rocks, and house—was not actual. Yet, looking back, we could see only the bare desert.

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