232 EXPEDITION TO THE 



that civilization does not produce them ; that the real he- 

 nefit, which results from it, is that, in some instances, it may 

 curb the passions which would otherwise impede their 

 growth. The Indian appears to us to possess ideas of 

 virtue and morality, which are full as valuable as those 

 that are supposed by some philosophers to be the exclusive 

 appanage of civilization. True, they are, perhaps but too 

 frequently checked in their growth by the uncontrolled 

 sway which his evil propensities exercise over him ; pro- 

 pensities which, as we believe, have been unfortunately 

 increased, by an indiscriminate intercourse with the most 

 worthless of white men who, to serve their own selfish 

 ends, have not been ashamed to stimulate the Indian to 

 deeds, which his own good sense would have prevented him 

 from perpetrating. 



On the route from Chicago to Fort Crawford we saw but 

 one deer, at which, however, we had no opportunity of 

 shooting. We likewise observed but a single wolf, which 

 was of the kind called Prairie wolf. If to these we add 

 the badger, which was killed on the 17th of June, we shall 

 have the list of the only quadrupeds seen upon upwards of 

 two hundred miles of prairie land. The extreme scarcity 

 of game in a country so remote from a white population 

 as this is, must be striking to every observer ; and it be- 

 comes the more so if we take into consideration the abun- 

 dance of fine grass which grows upon it. We know of no 

 other manner of accounting for this scarcity, than by at- 

 tributing it to the pacific state of the Indian tribes that own 

 tliese hunting grounds. Being free from all apprehensions 

 of enemies, they hunt without reserve, and destroy the 

 game more rapidly than it can be reproduced. They appear 

 since their intercourse with white men to have lost the sa- 

 gacious foresight which previously distinguished them. 



