INDIANS. 



375 



gold-bearing regions of the territory, has min- 



fled the white and red races, and forbids future 

 ifficulty. The change from savage to civilized 

 life is very great, and is beset with difficulties 

 and perplexities requiring, the aid of soil, cli- 

 mate, and seclusion to encounter them suc- 

 cessfully. 



In Nevada Territory a talk was held with the 

 Pah-Ute tribe on Walker River, which numbers 

 700. and with another tribe of the same Indians 

 on Trackee River. Wunu-Mucka, their chief, 

 made satisfactory declarations of his purpose to 

 prevent all interference on the part of his peo- 

 ple with the overland stage and the telegraph, 

 which pass through their country between the 

 Atlantic and the Pacific States. 



The "Washoe tribe presents a painful contrast 

 to the other Indians, even of that region. They 

 are a poor and degraded race, living on insects 

 and spontaneous products. 



The Apaches and Navajoes in New Mexico 

 have been arrayed in hostility towards the 

 whites. On the part of the former the hostility 

 was open and undisguised, while the latter 

 were more insidious but not less dangerous. 

 On the other hand, the Pueblos and Mohuache 

 Utahs have been friendly. The former are 

 peaceable and loyal towards the Federal Gov- 

 ernment, and largely engaged in agricultural 

 pursuits, and the latter are formidable in num- 

 bers, enterprising, intelligent, and loyal to such 

 a degree that they tendered their services for 

 the protection of white settlers against assaults 

 of Confederate squads from Texas, as well as 

 savage foes. The number of the Pueblos is 

 10,000; of the Navajoes, 9,000; Apaches, 

 10,000 ; Mohuache Utahs, 6,000. 



In Utah Territory an unfavorable state of 

 affairs exists among the Indians. The natural 

 poverty of the country, the destruction of the 

 Vild game by the introduction of white men, 

 and the selfish policy of the Mormon people, 

 have deprived the bulk, of from 15,000 to 20,000, 

 of the original proprietors of the country of 

 their accustomed means of subsistence, and 

 driven them to the alternative of laying violent 

 hands on the property of the whites, or of per- 

 ishing by want. Cattle husbandry is regarded 

 as the surest means of relieving these Indians. 



In California, a law has been passed by the 

 Legislature, by which large numbers of Indians 

 have been nominally indentured for a long term 

 of years to white masters. By the operations 

 of this law, Indians of any age under thirty, 

 and of either sex, without their consent, or, if 

 they be minors, that of their parents, are " in- 

 dentured " to white masters, who thereupon 

 become entitled to " the care, control, custody, 

 and earnings " of those thus " indentured," 

 whom, in consideration thereof, they undertake 

 to " feed, clothe, care for, and protect ; " but no 

 security is required that this undertaking shall 

 be performed, nor any penalties prescribed for 

 its violation. 



In Oregon, ill-disposed persons have asserted 

 to the Indians that the Government of their 



" Great Father " was destroyed, and that no 

 more annuities would be paid. The conse- 

 quence has been that the Rogue River Indians 

 abandoned their reservation, and the Indians 

 of other reservations threatened to follow their 

 example. The Cayuses, numbering less than 

 four hundred, own property valued at more 

 than $100,000. 



The number of Indians in "Washington Terri- 

 tory with whom treaties have been negotiated, 

 is about 14,000. There are many tribes and 

 bands besides who live in their neighborhood. 

 About ten thousand whites have gone into the 

 Nez Perces country in search of gold, but no 

 trouble has arisen between them and these In- 

 dians. 



At the Mackinac post, the greatest evil with 

 which the Indians have to contend is whiskey. 

 Those who live on the borders of the great 

 lakes divide their time between the old pur- 

 suits of hunting, fishing, and trapping, and 

 those of the interior depend on the cultivation 

 of their farms. Large quantities of maple 

 sugar are manufactured by them. Numbers 

 of those Indians have been eager to manifest 

 their good will to the Federal Government by 

 enlisting in its military service, if the Govern- 

 ment should desire it. 



The number of the Indians holding relations 

 with the Federal Government has been stated. 

 The schools of all kinds among them are 162, 

 having 5,950 pupils, under 186 teachers. The 

 station best furnished with educational oppor- 

 tunities is that of New York ; then follow, in 

 the order of excellence, the Northern, Central, 

 Southern California, Oregon, and Washington. 

 In New Mexico and Utah there are no schools, 

 nor in Nevada or Colorado territories. There 

 are two hundred and forty-one farms in cultiva- 

 tion by Indians or for Indian use, comprising 

 an area of 6,112 acres, of which 3,156 are 

 worked by Indians alone. 



The aggregate value of the movable per- 

 sonal property owned by the aforesaid Indian 

 tribes, is $4,670,053. Those in the most pros- 

 perous circumstances are the Shawnees, Wyan- 

 dots. and Delawares, who average more than 

 $1,000 to each individual ; the poorest are the 

 tribes and bands in Utah. Indian wealth con- 

 sists chiefly in horses, ponies, and mules ; but 

 cattle, farming implements, and household fur- 

 niture are rapidly becoming important objects 

 of acquisition. 



The moral and religious cultivation of the 

 Indians is under the care of seventy-seven mis- 

 sionaries, twenty-five of whom are under the 

 care of the Methodist Episcopal Church, north 

 and south ; nineteen are in the communion of 

 the Roman Catholic Church ; nine are Bap- 

 tists ; five are members of the Society of 

 Friends ; three are Congregationalists ; two 

 are of the Protestant Episcopal, and one of the 

 Lutheran Church. The remainder are undes- 

 ignated. Their presence imparts to the In- 

 dians, by example as well as precept, lessons in 

 industry of all kinds : in the arts and sciences ; 



