many difficulties and hardships that they had to contend with, and gave us much interesting information of the geography of the surrounding country. He also stated that furnaces for smelting iron ore were already in operation in the vicinity of Paragoona and Parawan, and that the metal, which was obtained in sufficient quantity to supply any demand, was also of an excellent quality ; and that veins of coal had been found near Cedar City, on Coal Creek, eighteen miles south of Parawan, one of which was fifteen feet in thickness, and apparently inexhaustible. A large force of English miners was employed in working these mines, and pronounced the coal to be equal to the best English coal. I saw it used in the forges; it is bituminous, and burns with a bright flame.

As regards the odious practice of polygamy which these people have engrafted on their religion, it is not to be supposed that we could learn much about it during our short stay, and its existence would even have been unobserved by us, had not a "Saint" voluntarily informed us that he was "one of those Mormons who believed in a plurality of wives," and added, "for my part I have six, and this is one of them," pointing to a female who was present. Taking this subject for his text, he delivered a discourse highly eulogistic of the institution of marriage, as seen in a Mormon point of view; of the antiquity of polygamy, its advantages, the evils it prevents, quoting the example of the patriarchs, and of eastern nations, and backing his argument with statistics of the relative number of males and females born, obtained no doubt from the same source as the Book of Mormon. This discourse did not increase our respect for the tenets he advocated, but we deemed it useless to engage in a controversy with one who made use of such sophistry. From what he said, I inferred that a large number of Mormons do not entirely approve of the "spiritual wife" system, and, judging from some of the households, it was evident that the weaker vessel has in many instances here, as elsewhere, the control of the ménage.

We left Parawan at dusk, having sent most of the party in advance, with directions to await our arrival at the nearest of those rich meadows known as Las Vegas de Santa Clara, about eighteen miles distant.

On entering the valley of the Little Salt Lake, we came upon

the line surveyed by Col. Frémont, and described in his report published in 1846. It was our intention to follow this line until we reached Mohaveh River, where we intended to take two or three men and enter Tulare Valley through Walker's Pass in the Sierra Nevada, allowing the remainder to pursue their journey up the Mohaveh, through the Cajon Pass, to Los Angeles. As the Mormons had opened a wagon-road all the way, we anticipated no difficulty in getting to our journey's end in good time.

The party arrived at Cedar City about midnight, but indisposition prevented me from keeping up with them, and I was finally compelled to spread my blanket near the roadside and rest until morning. Day's travel, 18 miles; whole distance, 1,363 miles.

Aug. 4. I saddled my mule at daylight, and in a few hours reached Cedar City. I was informed here that the party had already left, but that I could overtake the camp a few miles from the town.

Cedar City is a place of more importance than either Parawan or Paragoona, but is built on a similar plan. Around it are extensive fields, abundantly irrigated, giving promise of a rich harvest; the hills in the rear of the town are well timbered, and it is in this vicinity that the Mormons have discovered the coal veins destined to form the wealth of the region. The inhabitants are principally foreigners, and mostly Englishmen from the coal districts of Great Britain. At the time of our visit, the place was crowded with the people of the surrounding country seeking refuge from the Indians, and its square was blocked up with wagons, furniture, tents, farming implements, &c., in the midst of which were men, women, and children, together with every description of cattle, creating a scene of confusion difficult to describe.

I overtook the camp in a large grove of cottonwoods, and we immediately resumed our journey.

It is here that we saw the first of the meadows of Santa Clara, which give some celebrity to this region. They are embraced between 37° and 38° north latitude. This vega was covered with tender grass and watered by numerous streams, which preserve its freshness even during the most sultry sea

sons.

To travellers from the south, coming off the desert lying between the Mohaveh and these vegas, they certainly offer a delightful relief; and, although our animals had only recently been luxuriating in the rich mountain pastures of the Wahsatch, their uniform verdure and level surface, shaded in many places by extensive glades of cottonwoods, offered a delightful feeling of security, as though we were once more within the confines of civilization.

We now travelled on the Mormon wagon-trail leading to San Bernardino, in the south of California. We had heard of another route leading west to Owen's River, thence through a pass in the Sierra Nevada, which leads into the Tulare Valley near the head of the Four Creeks; but unfortunately we were unable to take this route, for we could neither obtain a guide nor even information on the subject; and, moreover, it would have been departing from his views of examining the country on the Mohaveh, for the purpose of locating Indians there, for Mr. Beale to have altered his course. The route by Owen's River shortens the distance nearly two hundred miles, cutting off the large elbow to the southwest, and, according to the accounts we had received, it conducts over a tolerably level, well watered, and grassy country.

We rested for a short time at noon, and then travelled until 10 P. M. over a level plain and good wagon-road, on each side of which was much dry grass; but we saw no water until encamping on a vega (meadow) which we reached through a gap in the mountains on our left. This meadow was about seven miles in length, penetrating deep into the mountains, and, although there was little running water, yet the grass was everywhere green and tender. Day's travel, 38 miles; whole distance, 1,401 miles.

Aug. 5. We returned to the plain, and continued to travel south by west until noon, when we encamped in the most southern of the vegas, which was more beautiful than any we had yet seen-rich in waving grass, and watered by numerous rills. It is inclosed by a low ridge of hills; its declivity is mostly to the northward; being on the rim of the Great Salt Lake Basin, in fact, on the divide, a portion of its waters run into the Basin, whilst the Rio de Santa Clara, which runs into

the Rio de la Virgen, a tributary of the Great Colorado, takes its rise here.

These vegas are called by the Mormons Mountain Meadows. In the afternoon, travelling south, we descended a slope, which brought us after dark to Santa Clara Creek, near which we encamped. Day's travel, 28 miles; whole distance, 1,429 miles.

CHAPTER VI.

DEPARTURE FROM LAS VEGAS DE SANTA CLARA.

THE DESERT.

PASSAGE OF

ARRIVAL AT LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA.

August 6. The Santa Clara at our encampment was a slender rill; but a few miles lower down, its volume was considerably increased by the accession of several streams.

We were now approaching the desert, and we this day travelled only ten miles, to allow our animals to recruit by rest and food. The road followed down the stream, and although level, was much overgrown with bushes.

After travelling a few miles, we met a small party of PahUtah Indians, who evinced great joy at seeing us, accosting us without fear. On approaching their village, a collection of miserable bush huts, we were met by an aged Indian, apparently their chief, holding in his hand a pipe, the stem of which was a reed and the bowl a piece of tin. With much gravity, he bade us welcome to his village, and after blowing three wreaths of smoke towards the sun, he offered us their symbol of friendship, with which we imitated his example. As soon as we had dismounted, a venerable squaw, laboring under great excitement, rushed towards Mr. Beale, and seizing his hands, forced into them a couple of green tunias (prickly pears), which she invited him to eat, a ceremony, I have no doubt, having a meaning as mystical as the first. And having thus entered into bonds to keep the peace and complied with all the exigencies of etiquette, we were considered the guests of the nation.

Among these Indians we witnessed one of the benefits which they have derived from their intercourse with the Mormons, who take every opportunity to ameliorate the condition of this wretched tribe. Near their village was a large and well-irrigated field, cultivated with care, and planted with corn, pumpkins, squashes, and melons.