224 NEW TRACKS IN NORTH AMERICA. 
driver, being alone, could do nothing ; so we set to work, too 
out the silver, dug out the wheels, and fastened our ov 
horses in front of the others. Having set this “ outfit 
moving again we started afresh, with very considerable doubf 
however as to how it would get through the alkali flat. 
Time, of course, could not be kept, and we took our mea 
at any hour during the day or night; at last we became s 
demoralised that no distinction could possibly be discovere 
between breakfast, dinner, or tea; so that all went indefinitely 
under the name of supper. We usually supped once ever 
eight hours, and did not therefore suffer from want of food. 
About half-way across the desert, four days from Virgini 
City, we reached Austin, at which thriving mining town wi 
rested for a night, and enjoyed the luxuries of a dinner, 
bed, and a breakfast. Nothing is more surprising than tht 
good fare which can be had at most of the mining towns iF 
California and Nevada. Our dinner at the French restaurant 
was fine; we had fresh oysters from San Francisco, largé} 
salmon-trout from the Humboldt River, and a variety of dishet 
beautifully cooked and served. We drank Perrier Jouet of 
the best quality, and claret which was not to be despised. if 
course, the luxuries were expensive, but they were supplied 
on all sides to the groups of miners and others who were 
dining with us. 
_ Two days’ and nights’ more travel brought us to the 
Mormon city, where we remained some time to recruit out 
strength and see the place. 
“Have you been to Salt Lake ?” and “ What do you think 
of the Mormons?” were the two questions I had most 
frequently to answer on my return home. 
Although the Mormons have been too much written on 
= well as “too much married,” yet I do not altogether agree wi 
