428 INDIANS. 



the principal men, but to buy one or more squaws and 

 a ' tepee,' and enable them to set up housekeeping. 

 These men become part of the tribe thus adopting or 

 tolerating them, and, when near the agencies, send their 

 squaws to draw rations for themselves and their children. 



Having more natural shrewdness than the Indian, and 

 a knowledge of the mode of life and habits of thought 

 of the white man, they soon gain a certain ascendency 

 over their red brethren. Being able to go among the 

 white settlements without suspicion, they are accused of 

 acting as spies for the Indians, of informing them where 

 a valuable lot of horses or mules is to be had for the 

 taking, and even of wreaking personal vengeance by 

 inciting the Indians to some act of atrocity. There is 

 scarcely a crime of which they are not accused, and I 

 doubt if there be a crime of which some of them are 

 not capable. 



These are the men who trade clandestinely with the 

 Indians. These furnish the arms ; these supply the 

 whisky ; these are the ready tools of corrupt agents, 

 making affidavits to cover any loss, and swearing to 

 any story that is made up for them. At his own best 

 games, in lying, stealing, drinking, and debauchery, the 

 squaw man is so far superior to the Indian as to gain 

 his unqualified admiration ; and he becomes a power 

 among them by the display of qualities similar, but 

 superior, to those held in highest estimation by them. 

 It is from these men that the Indians get their ideas of 

 the character, capacity, morality, and religion of white 

 men. 



The Mexicans have a proverb that 6 a woman is the 

 best dictionary.' The squaw men prove its correctness 

 by soon becoming adepts in the language of the Indians. 

 All the intercourse between the Government and the 

 Indian is filtered through these men and partakes of 

 their character, being full of duplicity, treachery, and 

 evasion. In all the length and breadth of the plains 



