. To California and back; . t Lake has lost nineteen-twentiethsof its ancient original dimensions, which still aretraceable. Its area was once equal to one-halfthat of the present Territory. It now covers anextent of about 2,000 square miles, in which areincluded a dozen or more waters are temperately warm and five timesas salt as the ocean. The human body floatsupon their surface with cork-like buoyancy,without the slightest sustaining effort. Youmay double your knees under you and reclineupon it, like a cherub on a cloud, wnth headand shoulders protruding. With sun-umbre
. To California and back; . t Lake has lost nineteen-twentiethsof its ancient original dimensions, which still aretraceable. Its area was once equal to one-halfthat of the present Territory. It now covers anextent of about 2,000 square miles, in which areincluded a dozen or more waters are temperately warm and five timesas salt as the ocean. The human body floatsupon their surface with cork-like buoyancy,without the slightest sustaining effort. Youmay double your knees under you and reclineupon it, like a cherub on a cloud, wnth headand shoulders protruding. With sun-umbrellaand book you may idly float and read at pleas-ure, or safely take a nap upon the bosom of SaltLake if you can contrive to maintain a suitablebalance meanw^hile; for you will find a markeddisposition on the part of this brine to turn youface down, which position is anything but apleasant pickle when unexpectedly assumed, forthe membrane of eyes and nose and mouth isnot on friendly terms with such saline -zT. r-X The shore of the lake is a few miles distantfrom the city, and Garfield Beach, some eighteenmiles away, is the most popular a pavilion and whole streets and avenuesof dressing rooms have been provided for thehundreds of bathers who every day in seasonflock to the lake. Everybody bathes, and thescene, novel and amusing by reason of theremarkable specific gravity of the water, differsfrom that of any other watering-place. The nat-ural aspect is full of soft beauty, not unlike thatof the Southern California shore looking off tothe coast islands of the Pacific, save that thesemi-tropical vegetation is wanting. Salt Lake is a Dead Sea, bare of fish or fowlexcept for a minute and not numerous speciesof the former. There is said to be a Mormontradition that in the time of their grasshopperplague an enormous flight of gulls issued fromits horizon and cleared the fields of their spectacle of those sea-scavengers waddlingthrough the b
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Keywords: ., bo, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, bookidtocaliforniaback02higg
