xxxi] WASHINGTON TO SAN FRANCISCO 157 



shaped that a speaker at one end can be heard distinctly 

 over the whole building when speaking in an ordinary con- 

 versational tone. To produce this effect it is a flat semi- 

 ellipsoid, so that the regularly curved ceiling is very low for 

 the size of the building. But the result is acoustically perfect, 

 and such as none of our architects have equalled. 



The city itself is in many respects unique and admirable. 

 It is a kind of " Garden " city, since every house (except in 

 the few business streets) stands in from half an acre to one 

 acre and a half of garden. Some are pretty stone-built villas, 

 some mere rude hovels, but all have the spacious garden. 

 And they are real gardens, the first I have seen in America, 

 full of flowers and fruit trees, and with abundant creepers 

 over the houses. 



The streets are about one hundred and thirty feet wide, 

 with shady trees, and a channel of clear water on both sides 

 of each street brought from the mountain. Every garden is 

 thus supplied with abundance of water for irrigation, when 

 required, by small channels under the side walks, and sluice 

 gates to regulate the supply. Crops can thus be grown 

 during a large part of the year. I walked a few miles into 

 the country, and seeing a small house and pretty flower 

 garden with some of our commonest garden flowers, roses, 

 stocks, marigolds, etc., I spoke to a homely looking woman 

 and found she was Welsh. A good many Welsh have 

 become Mormons. 



In the afternoon I returned to Ogden, and went on by 

 train in the evening. All the next day (Sunday, May 22) 

 we passed through an arid dreary country, the ground 

 covered with saline incrustations, and almost the only vege- 

 tation the sage bush (A rtemisia spinescens). At the stations 

 in more fertile spots there was a little verdure and sometimes 

 a few wild flowers — Oenotheras or composites. At all the 

 stations there were groups of Indians, usually with painted 

 faces but with European dress, one old man only with the 

 native blanket, boys shooting with bows and arrows, groups 

 of men and women playing cards. The passengers give them 

 money or buy ornaments, etc., and thus they live idly, get fat, 



