35 



used by Red Cloud, lied Dog, and Man-afraid ofdris-horses, and 

 in one council smoked the tobacco placed by Hod Cloud in his 

 own pipe. All of this agreed apparently with the sample he gave 

 me, and I have no doubt this sample fairly represented the 

 tobacco issued to the Indians during my visit. Some of the 

 officers who were with me at the Agency looked into this subject 

 with still more care, and their opinion on this point coincides with 

 my own. None of the tobacco we saw was of much service to 

 the Indians, who use the article only for smoking. 



IX. — Suffering of the Indians during the past Winter. 



The suffering among the Indians at Red Cloud Agency during 

 the past winter was very great. No small part of it could have 

 been prevented by good management, while the greater portion 

 must have been the result of the direct dishonesty which I have 

 shown to exist. 



The Indians had already suffered from cold before the Annuity 

 goods were issued, Nov. 12, 1874. In consequence of this late 

 delivery, they had no time to supplement the small number 

 of blankets issued with buffalo robes before the winter set in. In 

 less than a week after the issue, just as I started from the Agency 

 on my expedition, the weather became extremely cold, the ther- 

 mometer falling to 15° below zero ; and as many of the Indians 

 received no blankets at all, and most of those who did receive 

 them found them too small to protect them from cold, the suffer- 

 ing was great. One of the chiefs, whom I had engaged before the 

 issue to accompany me, informed, me, after the delivery, that he 

 coidd not go, being compelled, on account of the insufficiency of 

 blankets, to the hunt for buffalo, as otherwise his family would 

 suffer greatly during the hard winter he said was coming. Dur- 

 ing the extremely cold winter that followed, many of these 

 Indians, as is now well known, narrowly escaped freezing. 



The suffering for want of food during the past winter and spring- 

 is known to have been general among the Indians at this Agency. 



