xvi INTRODUCTION 



' Bird Chief/ principal chiefs of the Arrapahoes ; ' Little 

 Robe,' head chief of the Cheyennes ; in addition to 

 which there are many of the leading chiefs and warriors 

 of the Kiowas and Comanches, Osages, Eiver and Moun- 

 tain Crows, Pawnees, Apaches, Navajoz and Pueblo 

 Indians, who are personally well known to me. 



DESTRUCTION OF BUFFALO. 



But before referring to the Indian tribes, I desire to 

 add my testimony to that of Colonel Dodge as to the 

 wholesale and wanton destruction, during the last few 

 years, of the buffalo. When one reads of the total destruc- 

 tion during the three years (1872-3 and 4) of four 

 millions and a half of the ' Black Cattle of Illinois,' out 

 of which number upwards of three millions have been 

 killed for the mere sake of their hides, it is at first almost 

 impossible to realise what this slaughter represents, 

 and how much good and nutritious animal food, which 

 would have fed the red men as well as the hardy settlers 

 of the ' Great West,' has been wasted. 



The figures speak for themselves. When in the West 

 in 1872, I satisfied myself by personal inquiries that 

 the number of buffalo then being annually slaughtered 

 for their hides was at least one million per annum. 

 In the autumn of 1868, whilst crossing the Plains on 

 the Kansas Pacific Railroad for a distance of upwards 

 of 120 miles, between Ellsworth and Sheridan, we passed 

 through an almost unbroken herd of buffalo. The Plains 

 were blackened with them, and more than once the 

 train had to stop to allow unusually large herds to pass. 

 A few years afterwards, when travelling over the same 

 line of railroad, it was a rare sight to see a few herds 

 of from ten to twenty buffalo. A like result took place 

 still further southwards, between the Arkansas and 



