The Nashville daily union. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1862-1866, 1862-09-19
alashriIle atMiun.
TER ms:
THB MORM0Ns.
Experiences by an English Traveller
He Visits the City of the Saints.

he Vlslts the city OF the SAINTS.
RICHARD T. BURroN, author of mecca
and Pilgrimage Thither," and other
kindred works, has written very enter
tanning account of trip TO the Great Salt
Lake, which, having been published in
England, is now reprinted here in large
octave volume of nearly six hundred
pages.
Captain BCRToN left ST. Joseph in the
forepart of August 1860, and, travelling
by mail-coAch, arrived in the Mormon
city on the 25th Of the same month, max
ing a distance of not less than eleven
hundred miles in about nineteen days.
The author thus describes his approach
to the Mormon capital
APPROACH TO THE MORMON CAPITAL.
The city revealed ITSELF as we ap-
preached, from behind its screen, the in
clined terraces of the upper table land,
and Of last it lay stretched before us as
upon map. At little distance the as
pect was somewhat Oriental, and in some
points it remainded me Of modern Athens
without the Acropolis. None of the
buildings, except the Prophets house.
were whitewashed. The material-the
thick, sun-dried adobe common 10 all
parts of the eastern wOrld--was Of dull
leaden blue, deepened by The atmos-
pherc TO gray, like the shingles Of the
roofs. The number Of gardens and com
pOunds--each tenement within the walls
originally received $50 square acre, and
those outside from five TO ten acres, &C
| cOrdinE to their distance 49, the dark
clumps and lines of bitter cotton wood,
locust or acacia, poplars and fruit trees,
apples, peaches and yines--hOw lovely
they appeared after the badness of the
prairies and, finally, the fields of long
cared maize and sweet sorghum, strength
ened the similarity to an Asiatic rather
than TO an American settlement The diff
ieTences presently became as salient
The farm. honses, with their stacks and
stock, strongly suggested the Old COun-
| try. Moreover, dOmes and minaTets---
even churches and steeples--were wholly
wanting, an omission that somewhat sur
prised me. The only building conspicu-
Gus from afar, was the block occupied by
! the present head Of the church. The
court house, with its timed Musooyian
dome, at the west end of the city; the
/ arsenal, n barn-like structure, on bench
below the Jcbel Nur of the yalley--En.
sign Peak; and a saw-mill, built beyond
| the southern boundary, were the next in
| importance.
The houses are almost of one pattern
"A barn shape, with wings and lean-tOs,
generally facing, sometimes turned end
ways TO, the street, which gives a SUI
burban look to the settlements; and the
diminutive easements show that window
/ glass is not yet made in the valley. In
the best abodcs the adobe rests upon a
| few courses Of sandstone, which prevent
undermining by water or ground damp,
and must always be protected by coping
from the rain and snow. The poorer are
small, low, and hut.like; others are long
single-storied buildings, somewhat like
stables, with many entrances. The best
houses resemble East Indian bungalows,
with fiat roofs, and low, shady yeran-
dahs, well trellised, and supported by
posts or pillars. All are provided with
chimneys and substantial doors 10 keeT
out the piercing cold. The offices are
always placed for hygienic reasons, out.
side; and some have a story and hal
the latter intended for lumber and
other stores. looked in vain for The
clubhouse harems, in which certain rO'
mancers concerning things Mormon hat
informed me that wives are kept, like any
other stock. presently found this bu
one Of a multitude of delusiOns. UpOI
the whole, the Mormon settlement was
vast improvement upon its Contemporaries
in the valleys Of the Mississippi and III,
Missouri,
The author discovers al once that Their
is but one street that can be called
street--Answ ering the purpose of pub
lie highway and bazaar or market place
Having discovered also a buildin
whose sign board, swinging to a tail
gibbet.like flagstaff, dressed for the oc
casion, announced il to be the Sal! LAX
House, the principal If not The only es
tablishment Of the kind in New Zion,
our author settles down, and content
himself in the belief that the Mormon
are a passAbly clever people, aft,
all.
The charge so often and forcibly hur
ed against the Saints that they arc into
, Grant, Captain Burton yehemently denie
lie states that Of all the books publishc
against the MOrmons and their religio
but few indeed are not found on Il
book shelves of the Great Salt Lal
City. Our author gives list Of those !
found, and they make formidable ARA.
lie also complies list Of the religion
and secular writings Of educated MOI
mons, including works in English, Ge
p man, Spanish, French, and Italian.
, Concerning the great apostle Of Mo
| -..vs.v. n.rFafD WFrfon has kfa aow