AMONG THE MORMON SETTLEMENTS. 133 



they could by delays. Our abstinence so long from vegetables 

 and dairy products made us keen for them, and they were put 

 on to us at high figures. They also knew our failing for pie, 

 and did a fine trade with us in that circular necessity. 



We were visited by a small party of Indians in the fore- 

 noon. They came from their dens in the neighboring moun- 

 tains on a begging expedition— enterprises which the sylvan 

 stoics often engaged in — as the scarcity of game kept them in 

 a semi-civilized state. The Mormons satisfied their demands 

 humbly, for should they excite their wrath, they would fare 

 badly. Even if the Indians did not make an attack on the 

 settlement itself, they would make the whites feel their venge- 

 ance some other way : by running off their cattle, or by riddling 

 them with arrows. Besides this their long trips over the 

 desert made them dependent on the good will of the savages. 

 It may be, also, that certain enterprises which the Indians and 

 Mormons had in common, such as the massacre of the Moun- 

 tain Meadows, made the latter humor their swarthy neighbors 

 for fear they might expose them. 



There were two characters among the Indians who visited 

 us; one of whom was a chief, called "Injun Tom" by the 

 townsfolk ; the other being self-styled " Worky John." The 

 last could talk but little English, and offered us much sport. 

 He would go through the motions of driving a yoke of oxen, 

 at the same time imitating the conversation usually directed 

 towards them by the average teamster, which made our ex-ox- 

 drivers howl with delight. John was almost naked when he 

 came among us, and as a reward for his entertainment we 

 made him up a missionary box, containing a hat, shirt and 

 trousers. I need not say that the hat was of the shocking bad 

 order, and that the other articles were in tatters, for why should 

 we be expected to donate the pick of our wardrobe to the 

 heathen, more than other more pretentious folks. It was comical 

 to see the Indian putting the last on— wrong side foremost and 



