settle down to literary pursuits in Paris. A treatise
by one Orson Pratt (a Divinely appointed
essayist of great Mormon renown) converted
him; and after completing other Mormonic
studies, he set out for Utah to finish his
initiation, unaccompanied by his wife, who
refused to stir—and who would appear to be a
very sensible lady, though in this wise
benighted.

Liverpool is the point of departure for European
Mormon emigrations. In that city, the
Church has a special agency, which usually
freights a whole ship for each voyage. Brother
Bertrand describes the shipping arrangements
in rose-coloured terms. Perfect order presides
over the installation of the emigrants on
board. In cleanliness, decency, comfort, and
abundance of provisions, there is a sensible
difference, and that entirely in their favour,
between Mormon emigrations and those of
other strangers who cross over to America.
All pains are taken, under careful regulations,
to make the voyage a party of pleasure.
It is rare that marriages do not take
place during the passage. Landed at New York,
the emigrants are immediately forwarded, by
railway, to Florence, a small town in the
Nebraska territory, situated on the left bank of the
Missouri, where, for the last five years, caravans
have been organised to cross the thousand miles
of desert which lie between it and the Great
Salt Lake. The emigrants wait there several
weeks, while the provision of food, cattle, and
waggons is being made.

Each caravan consists of from five to six
hundred persons, with about fifty waggons drawn
by oxen. To set an example to the young people,
Brother Bertrand performed the whole of the
thousand miles on foot, without riding an instant
in his waggon; and two young women,
his fellow-travellers, bravely did the same. At present,
companies of emigrants annually traverse the plains,
each dragging his own little two-wheeled hand-cart.
This mode of emigration, much cheaper
than by waggons drawn by oxen, many of which
perish on the road, has been practised for the
last five years. In every caravan are to be
found handsome Englishwomen, whose delicate
feet have hitherto been accustomed to carpets,
traversing thus the immense wilderness. Such,
exclaims our Mormon pilgrim, are the miracles
which religious faith performs. Religious faith,
observe, in Joseph Smith and his golden plates,
read (by Joseph only) with the help of a pair of
triangular diamond spectacles!

The journey is accomplished, on an average,
in seventy-five days, with bullocks. The cost of
these emigrations is extremely moderate. It is
easy to understand that, by marching in caravans,
the Mormons save considerably. Their arrangements
are so prudently made, that wealthy emigrants
do not spend more than twenty pounds
per head, from Liverpool to the banks of the
Great Salt Lake. The whole distance is six
thousand miles.

To form an idea of the strategetic importance of
the City and of the whole valley of the Great Salt
Lake, it must be remembered that this asylum
is defended, to the east and the north, by a triple
chain of barren mountains, and on all sides by
citadels of inaccessible granite. A distance
varying from seven hundred to a thousand miles
separates it from any inhabited country. It is
surrounded in all directions by arid deserts, which
are inaccessible in winter, and which in summer
are unprovided with the natural resources
indispensable to the passage of large caravans.
The conquest of the Salt Lake Valley from the
Mormons could not be effected by the Americans
without employing an army of fifty thousand
well-seasoned warriors, and costing some eighty
millions sterling. This is Brother Bertrand's
estimate.

Utah derives its name from one of the many
wandering tribes which still live in the environs
of Salt Lake. The centre of this vast region
is composed of an immense table-land which
geographers have styled the Great Basin. Its
general climate is the most salubrious which can
be found, under the same latitude, in the whole
world. The absence of fogs, the vivifying air
of the mountains, the incomparable purity of
the atmosphere, and the excellence of its waters,
are favourable to the rapid increase of the
population. Mormon industry has metamorphosed
its arid soil into a wide oasis, which is
becoming more and more productive. Even
their enemies allow the industry of the Mormons.
One of their favourite maxims is, "I CAN'T DO
IT, never did anything; I WILL TRY, has
worked wonders; and I WILL DO IT, has
performed miracles." They have introduced
into Utah the ox, the horse, the mule, the ass,
the sheep, the pig, and all our domestic poultry.
The abundance and richness of the pasture is
such, that, in certain counties, an indefinite
number of horned cattle and sheep may be
reared. Oxen already form an important branch
of exportation to Lower California.

What strikes strangers as they emerge from
the mountains, is the imposing aspect of the
metropolis of the saints. Seated at the western
base of the Wah-Satch mountains, Great Salt
Lake City stretches picturesquely from east to
west, over an area five miles long by three miles
wide. The streets crossing at right angles, are
all five-and-forty yards in width. The town is
composed of twenty-one wards or quarters, each
of twelve "blocks," or regular squares. On
each side of the streets runs a stream of limpid
water, conducted from the neighbouring hills.
A double row of cotton-wood trees lines each of
these runs of water. Each dwelling, placed
back twenty feet from the street, is surrounded
by garden-ground. Near the town are hot
springs, which supply commodious bathing
establishments.

The name of Temple Block explains its
destination. Not far from it is Social Hall, a large
building, in which the legislature holds its
sessions. The principal room serves as a theatre;
in winter only amateur actors perform dramas
and comedies. The band is superior to those
of American towns of the third rank, and quite