126 INDIANA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS 



a mongrel race, of hybrids, between sheep and goats (?), 

 which are a worthless race. Nearly all the New-Mexican 

 sheep have horns, and some of the rams, as many as five, 

 sometimes three feet long. 



He thinks not more than one tenth of New Mexico is 

 cultivatable, and none of it without irrigation. Some of 

 the isolated valleys of the Rocky Mountains, he speaks of 

 as delightful places for the dwelling of civilization. The 

 most extensive, by far, is that of the Great Salt Lake, 

 which is sufficient to form a small state within itself. It 

 is in the north part of this valley, that the Mormons are 

 now settling. From two of them on the boat, I learned 

 many facts in relation to that settlement ; but I must not 

 occupy space to repeat it. Though I doubt not the account 

 of the trip of one of them, who went with General Kear- 

 ney,^ to California, and returned through Oregon and the 

 Salt Lake Valley, would be highly interesting to the read- 

 ers of the Agriculturist. 



On the boat, I made the acquaintance of Dr. W. J. 

 Polk,^ a relative of the president, who related to me an 

 anecdote of a planter on the Arkansas, that is so practi- 

 cal, that I will repeat it. It is his manner of punishing 

 negroes, and he finds it more effectual than the whip. 



Every Sunday, he gives an excellent dinner in a large 

 room provided for that purpose, where he requires every 

 negro to attend, neatly washed, and dressed, and after 

 listening to a sermon, or the reading of some good dis- 

 course, all are seated at table, except those who are on 

 the "punishment list;" and these are obliged to wait on 

 the others, and see them feast, without tasting a mouth- 



' Colonel Stephen Watts Kearny was placed in command of the 

 Army of the West in May, 1846, and made a brigadier general in 

 June. His expedition into California took place during the winter 

 of 1846-1847. See sketch in Dictionary of American Biography, 

 10:272-74. 



*Dr. William Junius Polk, son of Colonel William Polk of Ten- 

 nessee, who owned an estate of one hundred thousand acres in that 

 state. American Biography, A New Cyclopedia, 8:315-16 (Ameri- 

 can Historical Society, 1920). See also, post, 186-88. 



