Journey to 
the Kanzas 
Indians 
minded us of the time when these denizens of the 
wilderness had dwelt here. 
On the fifth day after our start we reached the 
Kanzas, or, as it is commonly called, Ka River, not 
deep, but rather broad and swift. Its course is from 
west to east, and it empties close by the border of 
the State of Missouri into the river of the same name. 
We were about a hundred miles above its mouth. To 
cross us over a canoe had been sent up the river from 
its mouth, but it had not as yet arrived. So we 
camped in the meanwhile on an elevation near the 
river. Some miles from us, on the same side of the 
river, was a village of the Kas, or Kanzas Indians; 
across the river, somewhat farther off, were two vil- 
lages of the same tribe. Near the first village there 
is a trading house, a smithy, and a Methodist mission. 
The Kas formerly lived forty miles to the west; but 
in 1826, in pursuance of treaties, the United States 
Government assigned them the district which they 
now inhabit; and has set apart for them for twenty 
years the annual sum of $3,500.00, which is given 
them principally in kind. The whole tribe is said to 
number at present 1,500 souls. The attempt to civi- 
lize the Kas and lead them to agriculture as yet has 
had little success. The Government has sent them 
some mechanics, has established a sort of model farm, 
and furnishes them yearly a number of cattle and 
swine. But they usually burn the fencing of the farm 
in winter and slaughter the animals. In other re- 
spects, they live, like the rest of the Indians, from 
