nic order--from
which they have been formally excluded--is one of the least evil of
their practices, not only abroad, but at home. Of the Endowment, one
apostate Mormon has declared that "its signs, tokens, marks, and ideas
are plagiarized from Masonry"; and it was a notorious fact, that every
one of the Mormon prisoners at the camp at Fort Bridger was accustomed
to endeavor to influence the sentinels at the guard-tents by means of
the Masonic signs.

This cursory review of the domestic condition of the Mormons would not
be complete without some allusion to the Indians who infest the whole
country. In the North, having their principal village at the foot of the
Wind River Mountains, in the southeastern corner of Oregon, is the tribe
of Mountain Snakes or Shoshonees, and the kindred tribe of Bannocks.
Throughout all the valleys south of Salt Lake City are the numerous
bands of the great tribe of Utahs. Still farther south are the Pyides.
The Snakes are superior in condition to any of the others; for, during
a portion of the year, they have access to the buffalo, which have not
crossed the Wahsatch Range into the Great Basin, within the recollection
of the oldest trapper. The only wild animals common in the country of
the Utahs are the hare, or "jackass-rabbit," the wild-cat, the wolf, and
the grizzly bear. There are few antelope or elk. Trout abound in the
mountain-brooks and in Lake Utah. In the Salt Lake, as in the Dead Sea,
there are no fish. Before the advent of the Mormons, the habits of all
the Utah bands were very degraded. No agency had been established among
them. They had few guns and blankets. For several years they were
engaged in constant hostilities with the people of the young and feeble
settlements,--their own method and implements of warfare improving
steadily all the while. Ultimately, however, the Mormons inaugurated a
system of Indian policy, which was highly successful. They propagated
their religion among the Utahs, baptized some of the most prominent
chiefs into the Church, fed and clothed them, and thereby acquired an
ascendency over most of the bands, which they attempted to use to the
detriment of the army during the winter of 1857-8, but without success.
Brigham Young, being vested with the superintendence of Indian affairs,
during his entire term of service as Governor, abused the functions of
that office. He taught the tribe, that there was a distinction between
"Americans" and "Mormons,"--an