ions, would be, that the interpreter, or some other person connected with the service, should act as Indian storekeeper, into whose custody the goods, provisions, farming implements, tools, .&c., intended for them, should be placed, and paid out as necessity might require, per capita, upon a pay-roll, and receipted when the payment was completed. This would prevent that inequality and waste now experienced. The present method is to pay out the provisions and goods at once in bulk to the dif ferent bands according to their relative strength, and they divide anong themselves. Great injustice is frequently done in this way. The prominent and more influential get the largest share; and hence there are almost daily complaints to the agent by those who have received little or nothing. All this difficulty and injustice would be obviated under the plan proposed. As before suggested, the seven bands of Mendawakanton Sioux who are paid annuities at this sub-agency embrace but a small portion of the Sioux nation. The other bands live remote, high up the St. Peter's river, and reaching over to and west of the Missouri. With those Indians we have but little intercourse, and of course my knowledge of their condi tion and prospects is limited. For the purpose of obtaining information in reference to them, I addressed a letter to an intelligent trader at Lacqueparlé, on the St. Peter's, three hundred miles above its mouth, to furnish the desired information. He has most obligingly done so. He is a member of the Legislative Council of Minnesota, has been for several years at this trading post, and from youth acquainted with Indian character. His statements are reliable, and I cannot do better than give an extract from his letter in making up this report. He says: "The few remarks that I shall make in this communication, hastily prepared, will have reference to the bands who live on the upper St. Peter's, with whom I am the best acquainted. You are doubtless aware, from reliable sources of information, and from written communications made to the superintendency, that, during the greater part of last winter, the sufferings and privations of nearly all the upper bands were extreme, in consequence of the almost entire failure of the buffalo; and although it cannot be said, so far as I know, that any of them perished for want of food, still there is no doubt whatever that quite a number of them have since died in consequence of these privations and by diseases induced by long suffering from want of proper food. The scarcity of the buffalo arose from various causes, but the principal one was the burning of the prairies over an extent of hundreds of miles of country, thereby causing those animals to diverge from their usual range during a greater part of the winter season. "It was not until late in February and March that the upper Wahpateons and Sissetons were enabled to make a few scant hunts. They are very poor indeed, in an unusually miserable condition, from the scantiness of grass and the severity of the season, affording but little food, and that by no means of a nutritious quality. This, however, prolonged their existence, and enabled the bands who had got off to a great distance to return, after the melting of the snow, to their corn crops, which they always hide in the ground near the villages where they plant. "The efforts made during last winter at Washington to obtain an appropriation for the relief of the upper Indians having failed, his Excellency Governor Ramsey assumed the responsibility of ordering a considera ble supply of ammunition, &c., to be distributed among them early last spring. This, together with the little aid which the traders could give at the time, was of the utmost benefit to these poor, destitute people, and they were very grateful for the relief. Nothing could have been more wise or opportune on the part of the governor. While obeying the dictates of humanity in aiding these people in their extreme need, it was wise policy to awaken whatever feelings of gratitude they may have, and predispose them to entertain friendly feelings towards the government, which I have no hesitation in saying I believe they now generally do. "The sufferings last winter aroused them to the necessity of cultivating the earth to a greater extent than usual; and many of them have enlarged their fields somewhat, and a few have made unusual exertions in planting corn. The prospects were, not long since, that they would gather quite a large crop-much more than last year. But I am sorry now to say that these expectations will only be realized by the Wahpateons of Lacque parlé. The Sissetons, having been visited some time ago by a large horde of the Yanktons, Pah Baxa, (Cut Beards,) and Indians of the Great Plains, who subsist entirely by the chase of the buffalo, have had a very large portion of their corn eaten up by these erratic bands, who are, and always have been, a great burden and cause of discouragement to those who for many years have planted corn, more or less, and who latterly have been induced by the counsels of traders and missionaries to gradually enlarge their fields. These Indians have already received a few ploughs from the government, through the representations and by the urgent solicitations of the missionaries and the traders. The bands at Lacqueparlé have made good use of those they received; but the Sissetons still continue to have prejudice against the plough, although they are becoming feeble, and I have no apprehension but they will soon be induced to use them with success. Some of them will do so next year; so they have promised. They are greatly in need of hoes, and urge upon every occasion that their wants be mentioned to their 'Father,' with a request that he will supply them if possible. If anything can be done in this respect, I beg leave to ask you to press its necessity upon the department. Three or four hundred hoes, or more, would be required to make the present of essential service in its distribution, and to prevent ill-feeling among them, and they should be procured early enough next spring, so as to be used in planting. "The few general remarks that I shall endeavor to add may be equally applicable to the present condition of all of our Indians. There is no difficulty in discovering that an entire radical change is required. The present system in every respect will not do. This almost any unprejudiced person will admit who understands the subject, but it is much more dificult to suggest a remedy. "The views of most of those who have lived the longest among the Indians agree in one respect-that is, that no great or beneficial change can take place in their condition until the general government has made them amenable to local laws-laws which will punish the evil-disposed, and secure the industrious in their property and individual rights, and thereby give them the greater inducements to acquire property, and with it those many and increasing wants which are not only the consequence, but the sale grounds, of civilization. Laws of this nature would also strike at the very root of one of the greatest evils which exist among them-their sys tem of communism. It retards everything like progress in the desire of bettering their condition. The most energetic and well-disposed cannot rise above the vagabond and worthless. Indeed, they are generally the best off who do the least, if they have a tact for begging or keeping their neighbors in apprehension. If the Indians could once be made industrious, the greatest difficulty would be surmounted. How, then, can this be accomplished, unless each man is secured the fruits of his labor?-and that can only be effected by the legislative enactment of the general gov ernment. "The present system of farming, it is now admitted by most persons, is entirely wrong. It surely never was the intention to labor for the Indians, instead of teaching and showing them how labor was to be done. Perhaps in this respect no great change can be effected with the old men and grown-up persons of the present generation; but a wide field will doubtless be opened up for the advancement of the young and rising generation, by means of manual-labor schools. With the Indian race, perhaps, more than any other, industry should go hand in hand with mental culture. It is useless to talk of regeneration or change of heart, so long as they are permitted to prowl about a set of lazy, listless vagabonds. In that state, occasional bursts of excitement are absolute necessities of existence. The hunter's life supplies this; and it is antagonistic to anything like quiet industry, or even the first approach to civilization. "It has been urged by those who have no faith in the civilization of the Indian, that he is incapable of a high order of cultivation. Admitting this, will any person deny that he is able to attain to that degree of improvement which enables a man to cultivate the earth, keep cattle, and thereby procure. food and clothing, and be a far better, and quieter, and more useful neighbor on a frontier than a wild hunter, who, although he may feast to-day, may be compelled to-morrow to beg or to steal from his white neighbor?" In conclusion, permit me to remark that I feel a deep interest in the welfare of these poor, degraded, unenlightened Indians, and believe some plan may be devised to elevate them in the scale of human intelligence. My feeble aid will not be wanting in promoting any system which may be adopted tending to that result. Respectfully submitted. NATHANIEL MCLEAN, Minnesota Territory. His Excellency ALEXANDER RAMSEY, Superintendent Indian Affairs, St. Paul, No. 16. Fourth annual report of the female mission school at Kaposia. Miss Jane S. Williamson has given diligent attention to teaching the Dakota females of this village, whenever any could be found willing to be taught. Within the year she has had school about eleven months. Not including my own children, who have been taught with the others, the Thole number of scholars is twenty-nine. Counting sixty days as a quar. ter, the average attendance for the first quarter is 4; for the second, 7; for the third, S; and for the fourth, 8-making an average attendance of seven for 240 days. Four can read with ease in the New Testament both in Dakota and English, write legibly, and have made some progress in mental arithme. tic. Three others read both languages, but not fluently. Four read the Wowapiwaken, who have not learned English, and write on slates. Nine others spell and read in Woonspe. Most of the remaining nine can spell readily in three letters. Besides teaching them to spell, read, &c., ten have been taught to knit, and all who attend with any regularity are instructed in sewing. All evince good capacity for learning, and, when they attend regularly, make good progress. But the same cause which has been mentioned in years past as impeding education among the Mendawakanton Sioux has, during the past year, been acting with increased power; and, until the money for which they are contending shall be in some way disposed of, there is little encouragement here to attempt teaching any except such as are boarded for that purpose. Two have been boarded by Mr. Robertson, the farmer for this village, and four in my own family, during the whole time they have been instructed. Of these, one has been under instruction but a short time. The other five read both Dakota and English. Those who live with their Indian relatives have, during the year, attended school, on an average, less than thirty days each. Three of the scholars are of mixed blood; the others are full-blooded Dakotas. Nine of them have been baptized. The church here contains nine native communicants in good standing. The average attendance of natives on public worship on Sabbath days is 16. THOS. S. WILLIAMSON, Indian Sub agent. To Colonel N. MCLEAN, Names and progress of the scholars. First class consists of four: Mary Aupetuiyotenkewin, Marian Robertson, Sarah Wawigohize, Rosalie Anghee, read the Scriptures both in Dakota and English, write legibly, and study mental arithmetic. Two of them have read through McGuffy's Second Reader. Second class, three Nanny Winejewin, Fanny Hopistind, Meggi Sueigenkewin, read in Dakota, Wowapiwaken, and spell and read in Town's First Reader, in English, and are learning to write. Third class, four: Sopuja Wajininepewin, Phebe Tiregenbijegewar, Margaret Culbertson, Hoper Tanke, read Wowapiwaken understandingly, and are learning to write. Fourth class, nine: Cinkpe Meza, Henzetuwin, Oda Wirxtemma, Wakenhsewin, Merpiyagirtin, Mazaxinawin, Cajeyeta, Naxleyeta, Tanke Wakanholi, spell well, and read Dakota Woonspe. Fifth class, nine: Ocici, Iyotankehuewin, Mespiyaoto, Dentre, Mespriyociceyewin, Konza, Juini, Susan Wartegenkewin, Zitkeheziwin, are leamng to spell; most of them spell readily in words of three or four letters. No. 17. The fifteenth annual report of the mission station at Lacqueparlé, September, 1850. Laboring at this station the past year: S. R. Riggs, A. M., and M. N. Adams, missionaries; Jonas Pettijohn, farmer; with Mrs. Riggs, Mrs. Adams, and Mrs. Pettijohn. For four and a half months during the winter a day school at the mission was taught, chiefly by Mrs. Adams. The whole number of scholars enrolled was upwards of sixty; but the average attendance was only twelve. Last autumn we employed a native teacher at one of the villages here for nearly two months, with some success. Various circumstances have combined to prevent our sustaining a school this summer. Two Indian children-a boy and a girl-supported in the families of Mr. Pettijohn and Mr. Adams, have learned to talk English, and made considerable progress in learning to read it also. During the winter we kept up a Sabbath school, with an average attendance of eighteen. Our religious services in the Dakota language have been attended about as well as in former years. The same causes which we mentioned last year have been in operation to prevent any sensible increase of interest in religion or education. We have long hoped that a treaty for the purchase of land, made with these Indians, might be the means of removing some of the present difficulties, and of opening the way for this people to make more rapid upward progress. The Indians at this place have raised excellent corn crops this season. In ploughing their fields last spring we gave them what assistance we could by working one of the mission horses with theirs. Some of them, too, had the use of a yoke of Mr. McLeod's oxen. The whole crop raised here this year will exceed two thousand bushels. Last fall we encouraged and assisted the men at one of the villages to put up a log storehouse, which answers them a very good purpose in keeping their corn and other things; but, before they can make much progress here in building, they must of necessity have some other means of making plank than the whip-saw: it is too hard a way of making boards for an Indian. There is what is thought to be a very good millseat in the neighborhood of the villages, to occupy which, on their behalf, in the event of a treaty, arrangements ought to be made. We have in several former reports urged the necessity of bringing these Dakotas under the restraints of law; but on the part of some persons there seems to be manifested a great repugnance to interfering with the “natural liberty" of an Indian, and a practical unbelief in the idea that he can ever become anything better. True liberty cannot give me the right to destroy my neighbor's property, or take away his life with impunity. And yet this is the liberty of the savage state; it is a state of fear- a state of bondage, of slavery. But this is the state of freedom with which some men hesitate to interfere. So long as this non-interference policy is pursued, the motives for his becoming a different man are withheld from the Indian. They need to be restrained-they must be restrained-before the idea of property can produce its full effect upon them. Their war parties, their lying in wait for their enemies, and their murdering, scalping, and barbarously treating women and children, ought to be |