364 INDIANS. 



forced to drop it, and then inspecting and examining the 

 scorched fingers, as if in doubt whether it were real fire. 

 This he continued until every match was gone. 



In 1867 a Sioux Indian came to Fort Sedgwick, 

 having in his possession a very fine and elaborately 

 painted buffalo robe. Many offers were made by officers 

 for its purchase sugar, coffee, flour, &c.. to the amount 

 of nearly twenty dollars being offered and refused. Some 

 time after a sergeant passed who had in his hand a paper 

 containing two or three pounds of loaf sugar cut into 

 cubic blocks or lumps (cut loaf, then new to frontier 

 people). He gave the Indian a lump or two, and passed 

 on. In a few moments the Indian came running after 

 him, took the robe from his shoulders, and offered it for 

 the paper of sugar. The exchange being made, he sat 

 down on the ground, and slowly and deliberately, with 

 every appearance of the most perfect gratification, ate up 

 every lump. 



The laws of the United States prescribe heavy penalties 

 for those who sell intoxicating liquors to the Indian, or 

 even take it into his country without special authority. 

 In prohibiting the regular trader from selling whisky to 

 the Indian, the Government exercises the same supreme 

 wisdom that it everywnere displays in the management 

 of Indian affairs. 



It takes the traffic in liquor (which will go on as 

 long as an Indian is left) out of the hands of responsible 

 men, in which it could be guarded and regulated, and 

 places it in those of the most grasping, unscrupulous, 

 rascally set of men in the world. The trader is also usually 

 prohibited from selling arms and ammunition. Whether 

 truthfully or not, this most lucrative department of the 

 Indian traffic has come to be regarded by frontier people 

 as the special prerogative of the Indian Bureau and its 

 pets and favourites. Who sells the arms to the Indians 

 will probably always be a mystery ; but certain it is that 

 they are always found completely armed with the very 



