CHAPTER XXVII. 



AMONG THE MORMONS. 



N my ride across the Territory of Utah 



amid its snow-capped mountains, hot 



sulpiiur springs and ?ts great Salt Lake, 



I met no hostile Indians, but on the 



contrary many hospitable Mormons; in 



fact, my reception by both Mormon 



and Gentile was invariably kind and 



generous. I saw something of tiie social 



life of Utah as well as the \vonderful 



country through which I passed, and was favorably 



impressed with the material development of the latter, 



as witnessed in its farms and mechanical industries. 



The men I conversed with were fairly intelligent — 



some exceptionally so; and hesitated not to explain 



and justify their peculiar faith and domestic life. 



They are certainly neither monsters nor murderers, 



but men possessing good manners and many of them 



refined tastes. In short, I found much good human 



nature among this people as well as social culture. 



Business intelligence and activity is a marked feature 



in their intercourse with strangers. 



In Utah agriculture is the chief occupation of the 



people. The long dry summers and the clayey charac* 



(491) 



