126 EXPEDITION TO THE 



here, that no one appears surprised at them ; they are con- 

 sidered as an every day occurrence. Generally an Indian 

 will, after he has recovered from his drunken frolic, express 

 great regret for the fatal effects which have attended it. 

 This is peculiarly the case where he is at a distance from 

 the white population, and where intoxication has not be- 

 come with him an habitual or daily vice ; otherwise the 

 frequent repetition of these bloody frays renders him cal- 

 lous to their consequences. As an instance, we were told, 

 that some time since, when the Baptist Missionary Society 

 were allowed to occupy Fort Wayne as one of their sta- 

 tions, an Indian brought to the fort the corpse of his 

 brother, and asked the Rev. Mr. M'Coy, who superintended 

 the establishment, to provide for the funeral. On inquiry, 

 Mr. M'Coy found that the deceased had been murdered a 

 short time before, by the very Indian who had brought 

 him in. When questioned as to the cause of his brother's 

 death, the murderer carelessly raised the clothing from the 

 breast of the deceased, and exhibited five or six wounds 

 which he had inflicted with a knife, nor could any emo- 

 tion of compunction be observed in his unyielding coun- 

 tenance. These evils may all be traced to the unfortu- 

 nate circumstance, that the prohibition to sell spirituous 

 liquors to the Indians only extends to their territory. 

 If congress were to include in this prohibition all lands be- 

 longing to the United States, the evil could be partly, if 

 not wholly, remedied. The inducement to smuggle li- 

 quor and sell it clandestinely, might be sufficiently great to 

 prevent the mischief from being completely removed, but 

 it would certainly render it rare. Perhaps, also, if the 

 agents were required to pay them their annuities on the 

 Indian reservation, and at a time when an opportunity would 

 be given them of laying out their money in the purchase 



