444 DECREASE OF POPULATION. 



quent to that period they caused great trouble and embarrass 

 ment to them, which was terminated by a successful expedition 

 into the remote regions west of Green Bay.* 



Had the Indians been very numerous in the valley of the 

 Mississippi when it was first discovered, they would not 

 likely have established villages, more especially when en 

 gaged in war with the Sacs and Foxes, who reside still in the 

 same regions, and are now, perhaps, more powerful than at 

 the time alluded to. The progress of the Indians towards 

 annihilation does not seem to have been rapid for 160 years, 

 and it is a melancholy reflection to think it is connected with 

 civilisation and the intercourse of the whites, and that their 

 removal to the wilderness and exclusion from white people, 

 has been adopted as the means of preserving the race. Leav 

 ing naturalists to determine the properties belonging to colour, 

 I shall simply remark, the dark man of North America, like 

 the dark rat of Britain, seems destined to be exterminated by 

 the light-coloured species. 



* Secretary of War s Report. 



