126 LIFE IN THE FAR WEST 



daily occurrence, perpetrated almost in the very presence 

 of the Government officers, who are stationed along the 

 frontier for the purpose of enforcing the laws for the 

 protection of the Indians. 



The misery entailed upon these unhappy people by 

 the illicit traffic must be seen to be fully appreciated. 

 Before the effects of the poisonous " firewater," they 

 disappear from the earth like " snow before the sun." 

 Although aware of the destruction it entails upon them, 

 the poor wretches have not moral courage to shun the 

 fatal allurement it holds out to them, of wild excitement 

 and a temporary oblivion of their many sufferings and 

 privations. With such palpable effects, it appears only 

 likely that the illegal trade is connived at by those 

 whose policy it has ever been, gradually but surely, to 

 exterminate the Indians, and by any means to extinguish 

 their title to the few lands they now own on the out- 

 skirts of civilisation. Certain it is that large quantities 

 of liquor find their way annually into the Indian 

 country, and as certain are the fatal results of the 

 pernicious system, and that the American Government 

 takes no steps to prevent it. There are some tribes 

 who have as yet withstood the great temptation, and 

 have resolutely refused to permit liquor to be brought 

 into their villages. The marked difference between the 

 improved condition of these, and the moral and physical 

 abasement of those which give way to the fatal passion 

 for drinking, sufficiently proves the pernicious effects of 

 the liquor-trade on the unfortunate and abused abori- 

 gines ; and it is matter of regret that no philanthropist 



