| 187 arrived; so we procured a team, and began a tour of examination to see the country. We spent Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, the 16th, 17th, and 18th, visiting near localities, and on the 19th we started from Bro. George Adams', one of the most westerly farms in the colony, en route for Independence, via Eagleville, Bethany, Pattonsburg, Maysville, and Stewartsville, Missouri. This route lies through Harrison, Daviess, and Dekalb Counties. In Harrison the land is for the most part rough, hilly, and wooded; being broken by Grand River and its tributaries, Big Creek and others. We passed some fine lands in the north portion of the county, but the larger part is broken. The small part of Daviess County that we passed was also much broken. In Dekalb we found a much better portion of country, though the northeastern part is of the same character as Harrison and Daviess. The southwestern part of the county is very good; the soil is rich, the timber apparently sufficient, and the water fairly good. . . .
All the way down from the Nishnabotna, Iowa, to Independence, Missouri, at least, the land is rolling, broken by the streams that put into the Missouri, and which, with the draws, ravines, and little summer streams, drains one of the handsomest and best countries the earth affords. . . .
At Stewartsville we became the guests of Bro. J. T. Kinneman, one of the sweet singers in Israel-one whom Solomon would have placed with Asaph and his band, had he lived in his day. We tarried here over Saturday and Sunday, preaching twice in the Crab Orchard Schoolhouse, to houses full of people, Saints and inquirers. On Monday, accompanied by Bro. T. W. Smith, we went by train to Independence, Missouri, arriving there late in the afternoon.
At Independence we found a few Saints in charge of Bro. George Pilgrim, the husband of a niece of Elder John E. Page, one of the early apostles of the latter-day work. We found a welcome at the house of Brn. J. W. Brackenbury and - Beagle, Saints lately from Kansas, the former an old schoolmate, when the Saints were happy in Nauvoo, the beautiful city. On the morning following our arrival Bro. Brackenbury . . . showed us a portion of the city and its vicinity. Of course, as our stay was short, we saw but little, and can only judge by what we saw. The city is handsomely situated, and sits not like Rome on seven hills, but on hundreds of hills, surrounded by hundreds more. A constant succession of vale, hill, farm, valley, villa, dell, grove, plain, meadow, spring, wood, reaches every way from this Jerusalem of modern Israel. Wood, water, and stone are everywhere to be had, and beauty of prospect lies in every direction. We slept one night in the city, walked over the Temple Lot, sang and prayed with earnest souls there, and left them anxious, waiting, and willing.
On returning to Stewartsville, we passed the night at Cameron, the guests of Bro. and Sr. Silas Russell, formerly living near Davenport, Iowa. Here we also met Brn. Sikes and Hill, and at a former visit on the way down, Bro. Wm. Bozarth, Sr. Bro. Bozarth was one of the early Saints, and when the rest were driven away, he remained for
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