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Show 4 ;./ v INTRODUCTION. Loring, for" ike' purpose; but who, before its completion, was reqjnr& l to rejoin his regiment, for service on the Pacific X » ast. In the* Department of Natural Science, from my very limited time, I was not successful in securing the services of'a competent assistant. Yet, although as much has not y.& en accomplished as I had anticipated, it is hoped that v.. .' some additional light has been thrown upon the Geological ;";.. '• formation and Natural History of these almost unknown regions. The papers of Professors Baird, Haldeman, Torrey, and Hall, together with the analyses of Dr. Gale, will not be without interest to the lovers of science. To these gentlemen, and to Messrs. Girard & Peale, I am much indebted for the labours which, from a regard to the general interests of science, they have bestowed toward rendering the. present report more complete and satisfactory. In what has been said respecting the Mormon community, I have endeavoured frankly to present the impressions produced upon my mind by a somewhat intimate acquaintance of a year's duration with both rulers and people. The intelligence of their organization into a Territorial Government, had not reached the valley when we left it. How far the change in their relations to the country, may, as has been asserted, have revolutionized the feelings of the people, it is impossible for me to say. But no representations, that have yet been made public, have served in the least to alter my expressed opinion of their character for either love to the oouiitry, or loyalty to the government. Since the return of the expedition, it has appeared evident that the nature of the domestic relations of the Mormons has been very generally misapprehended. It seems that the " spiritual wife system," as it has been very improperly denominated, has been supposed to be nothing more nor less than the unbridled license of indiscriminate intercourse between the either openly practised by all, or indulged, to the invasion of individual |