ALONG THE DESERT BORDER. 145 



informed by one of our conductors, that in the heart of the 

 grdat desert regions lying west of the Mormon settlements, a 

 fertile valley had been discovered, which, on account of the 

 small quantity of water found along the route leading to it, 

 could only be attained by small companies at a time. Here, 

 should they be driven from their present abodes, they could 

 form a distinct empire of their own, even more isolated than 

 the country they now inhabit, where, revelling in the slough of 

 polygamy to their hearts' content, they might bid defiance to 

 the United States, whose troops could only reach the Mormons 

 in small squads, which could be cut off easily by the " Destroy- 

 ing Angels." 



A little after noon we reached a point on the Santa Clara 

 where the trail leaves it to the left, a short distance above its 

 junction with the Kio Virgin. The scenery along the whole 

 of the eighteen miles which we had traveled down the valley 

 was particularly wild and rugged, and extremely interesting 

 to those fond of viewing nature in her roughest aspects. Rocks 

 piled on rocks arose upon the view above a narrow, sandy 

 valley, through the middle of which a small river was dashing 

 and foaming on its oceanward way. Near where we left it, a 

 bold escarpment of rock of a bright vermillion color arose 

 above the left bank of the river, making a pleasing variation 

 to the sombre hue of the surrounding scenery. Filling our 

 water casks, we left the Santa Clara, and climbing a steep, 

 sandy bluff we found ourselves on a desert plateau, in the 

 centre of which arose a mountain 'two thousand feet in height, 

 and covered from near its base to its summit with a thick 

 covering of snow. Striking across this plain in the direction 

 of a deep gorge in the mountain, we passed, near the roadside, 

 a singular rock, which was about twenty feet in height, length 

 and thickness, being remarkably square. It lay poised upon 

 a pile of other rocks, on to which it had rolled from a neighbor- 

 ing hill, on whose slope were a few more specimens of the same 



