248 OBSERVATIONS OF A RANCHWOMAN 



same folly, to call it by no harder name, 

 resulted in our Valley alone in such slaughter 

 of white settlers that our village then and 

 there earned the ominous title of Las Cruces 

 (The Crosses). Without indulging in false 

 sentiment concerning Indian matters false 

 sentiment being the form of folly most 

 affected by the average philanthropist 

 (Indian) no one acquainted with the rela- 

 tions existing for many years betwixt white 

 man and brown can question the justice of 

 Mr. Bancroft's strictures. ' This wasteful 

 and bloody war,' he says, alluding to that 

 waged with the notorious Apache chief, 

 Victorio, * was the result of the greed of the 

 white settler and the corrupt policy of the 

 United States Government.' 



The dealings of the Government with 

 a dependent race have certainly not been 

 either happy or creditable, nor do they 

 afford the desired shining example to 

 older and, to use a popular term, * effete ' 

 nations. 



But the time-worn scandal of ' Indian 

 agents,' and Indian affairs generally, needs 

 not to be discussed here ; yet whilst abhor- 



