l appointments, we did
not think it prudent to stop among them, but pushed on briskly, with our
rifles across the pommels of our saddles; indeed, from the covetous eyes
which these magistrates and big men occasionally cast upon our horses
and saddle-bags, we expected at every moment that we should be attacked.

A smart ride of two hours brought us to a second settlement, which
contrasted most singularly with the first. Here, all the houses were
neat and spacious, with fine barns and stables; the fields were well
enclosed, and covered with a green carpet of clover, upon which were
grazing cattle and horses of a superior breed.

This sight of comfort and plenty restored our confidence in
civilization, which confidence we had totally lost at the first
settlement we had fallen in with; and perceiving, among others, a
dwelling surrounded with gardens arranged with some taste, we stopped
our horses and asked for accommodation for ourselves and beasts. Three
or four smart young boys rushed out, to take care of our horses, and a
venerable old man invited us to honour his hearth. He was a Mormon, and
informed us that hundreds of farmers belonging to that sect had
established themselves in East Texas, at a short distance from each
other, and that, if we were going to travel through the Arkansas, and
chose to do so, we could stop every other day at a Mormon farm, until we
arrived at the southern borders of the state of Missouri.

We resolved to avail ourselves of this information, anticipating that
every Mormon dwelling would be as clean and comfortable as the one we
were in; but we afterwards found out our mistake, for, during the
fifteen days' journey which we travelled between the Sabine and a place
called Boston, we stopped at six different Mormon farms, either for
night or for noon meals, but, unlike the first, they were anything but
comfortable or prosperous. One circumstance, however, attracted
particularly our attention; it was, that, rich or poor, the Mormon
planters had superior cattle and horses, and that they had invariably
stored up in their granaries or barns the last year's crop of everything
that would keep. Afterwards I learned that these farmers were only
stipendiary agents of the elders of the Mormons, who, in the case of a
westward invasion being decided upon by Joe Smith and his people, would
immediately furnish their army with fresh horses and all the provisions
necessary for a campaign.

One morning we m