HRDLicKA] TUBERCULOSIS AMONG CERTAIN INDIAN TRIBES 13 



In diet the Sioux are chiefly meat eaters, the principal kind of 

 meat consumed being beef. They cook this fresh or cut it into strips 

 and dry it on cords stretched outside their dwelhngs. Other com- 

 mon articles of diet are badly made wheat bread and large quantities 

 of coffee. When they have money they purchase crackers and 

 canned foods. They eat very irregularly, both as to time and quan- 

 tity. During feasts and when visitors are present they not infre- 

 quently use the same wooden spoon or other utensil, one after another, 

 and eat from the same dish, tlie bones and other remnants being 

 freely strewn over the floor. 



In many of the dwellings it was seen that the denizens lack in both 

 quantity and quality of food on account of their poverty. This 

 affects the adults, especially the aged, more than the children. 

 Numerous cases were seen where the whole meal consisted of a few 

 crackers and black coffee. In several instances cattle which had 

 died of disease had been consumed, both flesh and viscera. Accord- 

 ing to the resident physician. Doctor Walker, the Oglala eat not 

 only cattle but even horses and dogs that die of disease. The 

 people are not emaciated; in fact, many look well nourished. Yet 

 there is no doubt that many do not receive, except on rare occasions, 

 all the nourishment they require. This doubtless induces indolence 

 and tlisease. It would also strongl}^ promote the spread of alcohol- 

 ism, but fortunately there are very few chances for obtaining liquor 

 on or near the reservation. 



Few of the Oglala men have any steady occupation. They do 

 very little farming. During the summer they cut some hay in the 

 valleys, which brings fair prices. Cattle and horses are being dis- 

 tributed by the Government to the different families, and stock 

 raising is being encouraged with some success. With certain families 

 it already constitutes an important item of sustenance. Tliis occu- 

 pation affords the men, and also some of the boys and girls, much 

 needed exercise of the best kind. A small percentage of the men 

 are employed about the agency and school, while others go off the 

 reservation to theaters and circuses, or for other employment. The 

 women are occupied almost exclusively with housework. Notwith- 

 standing these opportunities for working, many men in the tribe were 

 seen by the writer to be idle. Of these, many were traveling in their 

 wagons in a seminomadic fashion, bent mostly on visiting; this is 

 not, of course, a desirable condition from the sanitary point of view. 



The people of tliis tribe are quite shrewd, tractable, and glad to be 

 instructed, though the instruction given does not always have prac- 

 tical results. Their most striking peculiarities are the above-men- 

 tioned tendency to a seminomadic life and the disinclination to steady 

 manual work. They are very ignorant of all matters regarding 

 hygiene. One of the most reprehensible customs among them is the 



