William Henry Jackson

“ Red Cloud has probably participated in more conventions, treaties, and large assemblies of his own and the white people, in which the greatest interests were involved, than any other living Indian. "A man of brains, a good ruler, an eloquent speaker, an able general, and a fair diplomat, the friendship of Red Cloud is of more importance than that of all the other chiefs combined." While Spotted Tail has a lively vein of humor in his character, and loves to indulge in a little joke, Red Cloud is all dignity and seriousness. ”

“ It doesn't really sound a bit like Burmese in practice, but it is in theory, and was written for a Burmese boy to sing.
"The bird has a nest, a nest in the tree; a little red bird, as soft an can be. A cat sees the nest, the bird in the tree; and the little red bird, as safe as can be. 'Come down. little bird, from your nest in the tree. Come down and sit here, sit here close to me.' 'No, no you big cat! That may not be; I will not come down from my nest in the tree.'" ”

“ Those who have never attempted to secure photographs and measurements or other details of the physique of Indians, in short, any reliable statistics of individuals or bands, can hardly realize the obstacles to be overcome. The American Indian is extremely superstitious, and every attempt to take his picture is rendered difficult if not entirely frustrated by his deeply-rooted belief that the process places some portion of himself in the power of the white man, and his suspicion that such control may be used to his injury. ”

“ The other question is: "Are the Burmese people musical?" As being very much children of Nature, they are musical; but also, as musicians, they are very much children of Nature—that is to say, not artistes. It is impossible, I believe, for a Westerner to reproduce their curious gradations of pitch and tricks of voice production; but it would interest you to bear a little song which I have written with all the notes of its melody exclusively on the five notes of the Burmese scale, and with cadences in direct imitation of Burmese. ”

“ The Jicarilla reservation, intended for the sub-tribe of that name, is of about the same dimensions as that of the Mescaleros, and lies between the San Juan River and the northern boundary-line of New Mexico. The Jicarillas, who number about 1,000, have not as yet been placed upon this reserve, but roam at will over the surrounding country, spending much of their time with the southern Utes, with whom they have intermarried to a considerable extent. They draw a portion of their subsistence from the Government and depend upon their own resources for the rest. ”

“ As a tax for cheerful endurance it is hard to decide between a midday walk barefoot over paddy-fields, baked so hard as to be like edge-wise broken tiles, or a two hours' tramp after lark through swampy grass with the snake calls incessantly audible on every side. ”

“ A brave but recently made a chief of the Red Lake Chippewas, and is ranked as the very bravest of all [Pg 11] his tribe. Had always been accustomed to fight the Sioux, but after the massacre of 1862-'63 re-organized and led a small party of from six to ten of his bravest men against them every summer for some time, killing with his own hand fifteen of their enemies and bringing home their scalps. Was a crafty warrior and knew well how to slay his foe without losing his own life. He still lives, farming and hunting for a living, and is a man of great influence in his band. ”

“ The war chief is generally a man of more importance in the village, especially when in the neighborhood of enemies, than the chief himself. In this instance his tent, situated in the centre of the encampment, is adorned with broad bands of black, yellow, and white, rendering it quite conspicuous. The war chief, or his lieutenant, issues forth frequently to announce, in the far-reaching voice peculiar to Indians, the orders which are to govern their actions, while within is an almost uninterrupted thumping on drums. ”

“ Though holding a hereditary friendship for the white people and acknowledging the supremacy of the Government, and for the most part included under agencies and receiving Government rations to a greater or less extent, no tribe in the country is more averse to manual labor, or has yielded less to civilizing influences, partly because of the abundance of game and partly because of their remoteness from settlements. ”

“ We derive our first knowledge of the Utahs from the early Spanish explorers, who came in contact with them on the upper waters of the Rio Grande del Norte, and who gave them the reputation of being a brave and warlike tribe. Their country bordered that of the Navajos on the south (the Rio San Juan now dividing them) , who formerly ranged as far north as the waters of the Grand, but were crowded back by the Utahs. A continuous warfare was kept up between the tribes, in which the Navajos were worsted. ”

“ The Utahs, Yutas, or Utes, as the name is variously written, are a large tribe belonging to the great Shoshone family, and who occupy the mountainous portion of Colorado, with portions of Utah, New Mexico, and Nevada. Those living in the mountains where game abounds have a fine physical development, are brave and hardy, and comparatively well to do; while those who inhabit the sterile plains of the Salt Lake Basin are miserably poor, and spiritless. ”

“ The Indians, full of war and revenge, have no thought to bestow upon farming or other peaceful employment, especially as the best farming lands of the reservation are most exposed to these hostile incursions. Six families, however, have been induced to tend small farms, and have succeeded well. A mile and a half of ditch, sufficient to irrigate several hundred acres, has been dug, and it is hoped that another season will see at least a beginning made toward the civilization of these 4,000 wild but always loyal Crows. ”

“ In the spring of 1838 that dreaded scourge of the Indians, small-pox, made its appearance among the Mandans, brought among them by the employés of the fur company. All the tribes along the river suffered more or less, but none approached so near extinction as the Mandans. When the disease had abated, and when the remnant of this once powerful nation had recovered sufficiently to remove the decaying bodies from their cabins, the total number of grown men was twenty-three, of women forty, and of young persons sixty or seventy. ”

“ The Chippewas are extensively intermarried with the Ottawas, and are thrifty and worthy citizens of the United States, as are also those of Saginaw, and of Keewenaw Bay in Michigan. The Bad River, Red Cliff, Red Lake, and Mississippi bands are likewise making rapid progress in civilization. Of those which have made but little or no progress are the Leech Lake, White Earth, Mille Lac, and other scattered bands in remote and inaccessible regions of Minnesota and Wisconsin, the older chiefs resolutely opposing any attempt on the part of the younger men to begin a civilized life. ”

“ Spotted Tail has long been the chief of the Brulé Sioux, and since his conversion from an intense hostility to an unswerving friendship for the white people has by them been looked upon and considered as the great chief of all the Sioux. The honors of this position are equally divided between Red Cloud and Spotted Tail; each is chief of his band only, the Indians themselves not recognizing any one man as chief of the whole nation ”

“ Young Guerito was sent to Washington in 1873, joining the Ute delegation, for the purpose of effecting some treaty whereby these Apaches might have set apart for them a piece of land of their own to cultivate, as now they roam on Ute land and have no home they can call their own. He is a relative of Ouray, the great chief of the Utes, and through the latter's influence some such arrangement was effected. Guerito is a quiet and peaceable young man, a representative of his tribe, who prefer farming, and shrink from all wars against either Indians or white men. ”

“ At the Upper Missouri agencies but little has been done beyond feeding the Indians who report to them for that purpose, their attempts at farming resulting in failures on account of the grasshopper pest. The Yanktons, Santees, Sissetons, Wahpetons, and other Sioux on the Lower Missouri and in Eastern Dakota have made more substantial progress in civilization, many of them having permanently discarded their Indian habits and dress, and live in houses, and are nearly self-supporting. The Santees in Nebraska especially have entirely renounced their old form of life ”

“ A young chief of the Grand River band of Utes. As a delegate of his tribe, he helped to make the treaty of 1868 in Washington, and signed it; but since then he has never acknowledged it, and, with his band, has kept off the present reservation, camping generally near Denver. He has about 35 lodges, or 250 people, with him. He is a nephew of the late principal chief Nevava, who died in 1868. He is quite a young man, very adroit and ambitious, and possessed of considerable ability. Has distinguished himself as a warrior in contests with the Arapahoes. ”

“ Of the 2,800 Nez Percés now living, nearly half located on the Kamiah and Lapwai reservations in northern Idaho, and a few others settled on lands outside the reserve, are prosperous farmers and stock-growers. The rest are 'non-treaties,' who, with other non-treaty Indians in that region, make every exertion to induce the reservation Indians to lease their farms and join them in their annual hunting and root-gathering expeditions. ”

“ The Choctaws, or Chahtas, at the time of De Soto's visit in 1540, were living south of the Chickasaws, and west of the Creeks. Unlike the surrounding tribes, they were peaceably disposed, and a nation of farmers, and much farther advanced in civilization than any of their neighbors. Coming in contact with the French, Spanish, English, and Americans, they have never been at war with any of them. Commenced moving west of the Mississippi in 1801, and by 1830 had exchanged all their lands for other in the Indian Territory. ”

“ Early in the summer of the present year troubles arose in regard to the occupancy of the Wallowa Valley by white settlers, it having been withdrawn in 1875 from the reservation assigned them by treaty in 1873, from a failure on their part to permanently occupy it. An Indian, belonging to a band of malcontents or non-treaties under the Chief Joseph, was killed by some settlers, when they insisted upon the removal of all the whites and the restitution of the valley to them. ”

“ Being a good Indian orator, and of dignified bearing, he was generally awarded the first place in their councils, and led off in speech. In 1820, it is said that he put a stop to the custom, then prevalent among the Pawnees, of offering human sacrifices, but only by a display of great courage. In 1825 he visited Washington with a delegation of his tribe, and attracted much attention by his fine presence. Has always been friendly to the whites and in favor of the advancement of his tribe in civilized habits, although very slow himself to adopt new ideas. ”

“ The agency has taken the place of the nation, and is in turn developing the individual man, who, owning house, stock, and farm, has learned to look solely to his own exertions for support. No tribe by unswerving loyalty deserves more of the Government, or is making, under favorable conditions, more gratifying progress; 9,850 of the tribe live in houses, 9,345 are engaged in agriculture and other civilized occupations; and 13,202 wear citizen's dress. Fifty-seven per cent. of their subsistence is obtained by their own labor, mainly in farming ”

“ Is an Otoe Indian, though his grandfather belonged to the Iowa tribe. He was, when a young man, a self-constituted chief, leading a portion of the Buffalo band of Otoes, at a time when Sack-a-pie was chief, and at whose death he became the recognized head chief of the band, which position he held until 1874. He is still living; is about 80 years of age, in stature 5 feet 6 inches, and weighs about 160 pounds. He is of rather a mild disposition, though decided in his ways; concilitory to the whites, and has gained many friends among them. ”

“ He is well known throughout Oregon, and is held in the highest esteem. He has been complimented by the judges everywhere for his integrity and intelligence, and both by his loyalty and education is a living proof of the folly and wickedness of the theory that the Indian can neither be civilized nor be made the friend of the white race. ”

“ One of the most numerous branches of Athabascan stock are the Apaches, a fierce, nomadic nation, roaming over the Territories of New Mexico and Arizona, and Sonora and Chihuahua. Always a scourge and a terror to settlers, they have held in check for many years the civilization of the country covered by their depredations. ”

“ Ouray was born in 1834, in Taos, N. Mex., his father being a Ute, and his mother a Jicarilla Apache. He attended the Mexican school at Taos, under the tuition of Jesuit priests, and acquired there a perfect knowledge of the Spanish language. In 1850, he married, and joined his tribe as a warrior, it being then at war with the Navajos of New Mexico, and the Cheyennes and Arapahos of Colorado. Soon after, in a fight with the Arapahos, his only son was captured and carried off by the enemy, and since then he has never ceased, nor allowed his tribe to rest, from hostilities against these Indians. ”