464 TRIBES OF THE UPPER MISSOURI [eth. ANN. 4c 



tribes have for years entertained a desire to cultivate, not because 

 they apprehend any failure of game, but having become fond of corn, 

 potatoes, etc., wish to have them, but can not exert themselves enough 

 for the purpose. 



Commerce not as yet having reached the tribes of whom we write 

 except in the form of trade for their furs and skins, the question as 

 to its ultimate effects, as a cause of civilization, can not by us be 

 determined, but the effects produced by traffic have had a decided 

 tendency toward their improvement and advancement by stimulating 

 their exertions and increasing their knowledge. It must be obvious 

 to every one who is acquainted with the character and history of 

 Indians that they have an antipathy to work, that as long as they 

 can support themselves by hunting they will do so; for through these 

 means they are enabled to avail themselves of the labor and arts of 

 Europeans in procuring articles necessary for their subsistence, in 

 exchange for their furs and skins. This method being more con- 

 sonant with their fixed habits, is less toilsome though more dangerous 

 than civilized occupations. Having clothing, utensils, arms, amuni- 

 tion, and all kinds of provisions furnished them by the traders 

 certainly increases their desire to obtain these things, stimulates 

 them to greater exertions in hunting, but does not lead to a suf- 

 ficient energy of mind to endeavor to produce these things by a slower 

 though more certain employment. In the event of a sudden disap- 

 pearance of game they would be driven to extreme want and thou- 

 sands would perhaps perish before they would of their own accord 

 apply themselves to agricultural pursuits. 



If no human exertions be made by those in power to instruct them 

 in the superior advantages of such labors over their present precari- 

 ous life, they must by a sudden pressure of emigration, and a conse- 

 quent annihilation of game, become the drudges of the whites, de- 

 stroyed and degraded by their great banes, whiskey and smallpox. 

 It is impossible to conceal the rapid strides made by emigration or 

 its immoral tendency on the Indians, and it would be very unreason- 

 able to conclude that its destroying effects would so revolutionize the 

 habits of an uneducated Indian as to meet the emergency. The change 

 from savage to civilized life and occupations must be gradual, accom- 

 panied by instruction, education, and practical experiment illustra- 

 tive of its utility. 



The introduction of woolen goods has been of some advantage to 

 the Indians. It has added to their comfort, cleanliness, and pride, 

 and has had other good effects ; but these alone can not be said to have 

 much increased their means of subsistence, though other things have. 

 As long as an Indian is a hunter, his dress must answer that purpose. 

 There is no fabric of European manufacture clothed in which he 

 could crawl after game over the plains covered with cactus in summer 



