acres this year, realizing 70,000 bushels of grain, 6,250 bushels of potatoes, and 1,400 tons of hay, and own about 4,500 head of stock.

Still a considerable number of the people fail or refuse to take advantage of the benefits provided for them in their treaty, and either remain in a shiftless condition upon the reservation, or wander off to Iowa and Wisconsin, seeking a precarious living by begging, fishing, hunting, &c.

It is found very difficult to prevent the sale of whiskey among them, and convictions by the Kansas courts are so rare as to discourage appeals to the law. These difficulties will necessarily increase when, by the sale of the surplus lands of the tribe after all allotments are made, the white settlers become interspersed among the Indians, and the agent thinks that a treaty providing for the removal to the south of all who do not become citizens will be found necessary.

During the last year certificates of allotments have been made to a large number of Indians entitled to them, and some progress has been made towards the completion of the list of those who are entitled to citizenship, and to the payment of their share of the capital fund of the tribe.

The St. Mary's (Catholic) mission school continues to prosper, and to confer great benefit upon the children of the tribe, and another school is about being opened with flattering prospects in the old Baptist mission building, under the auspices of the Home Missionary Society of that church.

The Delawares exhibit a condition somewhat similar to that of the last-mentioned tribe, many of them being intelligent, industrious, and prosperous, while the majority are improvident. All have allotments; their land is the best possible for farming purposes, and they might all be in a prosperous condition. Doubtless the uncertainty prevailing as to their remaining in Kansas has induced an indifference towards the making of improvements at their present location.

Many who have not themselves worked their farms have realized something from them by renting them to colored men for a share of the produce. Many of the young men who were in the United States army have come home considerably demoralized, and there have been so many assaults committed by them, in some instances fatal, that the national council was called together and enacted a code of laws providing penalties for various misdeeds. A copy of this code is presented among the accompanying documents as a favorable specimen of Indian legislation. The population of the tribe is 1,065 by the last census, and the wealth in individual property, aside from annuities, $244,800. They have raised this year about 72,000 bushels of grain, and 13,000 bushels of potatoes and other vegetables, and own nearly 5,000 head of stock.

Their school has been in successful operation with 100 scholars, the sexes being divided about equally, and the children being well cared for and deriving great benefit from the care bestowed upon them. Provision is also made for introducing the Kindergarten system here.

A treaty was made with this tribe July 4 of this year, providing for a removal to a new home in the Indian country of all who shall not decide to become citizens of the United States, and the sale of the common lands and the lands of those who decide to go south, to the Missouri River Railroad Company. A delegation of the tribe has gone to the Indian country to select a reservation there, and upon their return, and the approval of their selection by the department, the various provisions of the treaty can be put in operation.

The Wyandotts, also under charge of this agency, are in a very unsatisfactory condition.

By the operation of a treaty made some ten years ago they were made citizens by certain provisions thereof, which might be suspended, however, at the discretion of this office, as to such as should desire such suspension. Patents were issued to others for lands divided to them in severalty.

Those who declined to become citizens still decline to do so, and have no been compelled to assume those duties; and many of them, under a recognized chief and council, have remained in the south among the Senecas until driven out by the war, since which they have returned thither. Meantime the citizen party has had an organization and claimed recognition. The State tax laws have borne heavily upon the people, and many tracts of land belonging to orphans and incompetents have been sold and deeded away from them at the tax sales. Many, even of those who became citizens, have begged to be relieved from such responsibilities, and a large number of both classes desire to make some arrangement by which they can sell their lands in Kansas and remove to lands to be given to them by the Senecas in the Indian country. It is doubtful whether there is properly any Wyandott tribe with whom to treat, and whether legislation by Congress will not be needed to reach the case, even if the decision of the Supreme Court upon the question of taxation should remove all embarrassment from that source.

The Sacs and Foxes of the Mississippi hold a diminished reserve in the central part of Kansas geographically, but, for the most part, beyond the settlements. They numbered by the census of last spring 818, but by a recent enumeration 766. Under the same agent, but upon a different reservation, is a small band of Chippewas and Munsees, 80 in all.

The Sacs and Foxes are all "blanket" Indians, none of them wearing garments like whites. Some few of them, including their principal chiefs, would don the civilized apparel, but would thereby lose their influence with their people. These chiefs have shown a commendable desire to second the efforts of their agent for the improvement of the tribe, although they have met with much opposition from those who are determined to oppose all progress towards civilization. The celebrated chief, old "Keokuk," left among them, at his death, an injunction not to assume the ways of the white man. His son, the present head chief, Keokuk also by name, is wiser in his generation, and is anxious that his tribe should improve. By the aid of these chiefs, and an appropriation from the civilization fund, a school has been put in operation among them, and Keokuk's son, Charles, is one of the most advanced of the scholars. In this school, also, an opportunity has been offered to try the benefits of the new system heretofore alluded to.

Some of the Sacs and Foxes have applied themselves to agriculture, and their statistics show a product of 11,000 bushels of corn, and 100 tons of hay. The principal property of the tribe consists in horses, of which they own nearly 2,000, valued at about $70,000.

Numerous complaints by the wilder bands of this tribe against their agent have been made during the year. The agent expressed his desire to have a full investigation of his conduct, insisting that the charges against him would be found to have originated with parties who are resolved that the tribe shall not be civ ilized, but left in a condition in which they can be easily plundered. This investigation has just been made, and the report upon the subject, completely vindicating the agent, is placed among the accompanying documents.

A por ion of this band, unwilling to endure the restraints imposed upon them upon the reservation, have gone to Iowa, where a portion of the annuities of the tribe, under directions issued by your predecessor, have been expended for their use and benefit. While, as a general rule, it is deemed very unwise to provide for Indians at any point except their proper reservations, the late secretary thought this case an exception, inasmuch as the legislature of Iowa had in effect invited the Indians to occupy lands in that State. A special agent is now in charge of these people, numbering some 230.

The small band of Chippewas and Munsees have enjoyed a year of prosperity, and have raised sufficient for their subsistence upon their allotments. Their

school has been kept up to advantage, having an average of twenty-six scholars. The property of individuals is estimated at $9,664.

The Kansas or Kaw tribe, numbering 670, is located upon a reserve still further west than the Sacs and Foxes, and they are also wild Indians, doing scarcely anything in the way of agriculture. They were very successful in their hunt late last fall, and returned with the skins and meat of about 3,000 buffalo, and sold $21,000 worth of furs. They also raise many horses for sale, having disposed of $15,000 worth in the course of the year. The agent represents them as improving in their disposition to agriculture, and states their crops at 5.000 bushels of corn.

They have had a manual labor school under the charge of the Friend's Mission, but its success has been very small, and it is now closed.

The agent reported, some time previous to its close, that the scholars were not well enough clothed and fed, and that the system adopted by the teachers was not such as to attract the children.

The Santa Fé route crosses the reservation, and the facilities with which the Indians obtain liquor is very demoralizing to them. Doubtless the condition of the tribe could be much improved by removing them to a more southern location.

We have no reports from either of the agents having charge of the Miamies, Peorias, Weas, and Piankeshaws, and of the Ottewas. As to the people of the former tribes, in charge of Agent Colton, there are reasons to believe that it is with them as with most of the others in Kansas, and that a large number of them would be glad of an opportunity to make a treaty and sell their lands, with a view of going South; indeed, some of them have already been making some preliminary negotiations with the tribes of the Neosho agency. Many, however, are educated and very intelligent people, and would gladly avail themselves of the opportunity to sever their connexion with the tribe and become citizens. Arrangements are in progress to renew for the Miamies the privileges and benefits of a school at a convenient location, while a number of their chil dren enjoy the benefits of the St. Mary's Mission school, their parents themselves paying one-half of the necessary charges.

These Indians have suffered greatly from the troublesome tax question which vexes and harasses so many of the Kansas tribes.

The Ottawas are a small tribe, holding lands in severalty, living in all respects like whites, and cultivating their farms with success. They will, by the terms of their treaty, become citizens of the United States July 25, 1867, and will then, of course, have no use for an agent. Indeed, but for managing to some extent the sales of their lands, and attending to the interests of the "Ottawa University," the present agent would find little occasion for his services. The institution referred to is an enterprise in which the Indians take great interest, and have endowed it with a liberal share of their most valuable lands.

Parties in the east, as well as others in Kansas, have aided it materially, and a large building is well on its way to completion, the design being to fully establish an institution of learning which shall provide not only for Ottawa children, but for the children of all other Indian tribes who may desire to participate in its benefits by endowing it with a portion of their educational funds. The plan appears to be an excellent one, and its success would be a real benefit to the Indian tribes generally.

Treaties were made in the fall of 1865, as heretofore stated in this report, with the Kiowas and Comanches, and with the Arapahoes, Cheyennes, and Apaches.

The latter tribe had before been associated with the Kiowas and Comanches and the agency for the three was located in southwestern Kansas, that being, however, but a rendezvous for such of the tribes as were disposed to friendship with the whites.

A number of their bands have never taken part in treaties, but have ranged at will over a wide district of country, from Kansas to the Rio Grande, and from the frontier settlements of Texas far into New Mexico, frequently plundering emigrant and merchandise trains, or making raids upon and carrying away into captivity the women and children of the border people. It is true, beyond doubt, that in the case of some of these raids, they have been induced, in the minds of a part of the Indians engaging in them, by a dim notion that they were really performing a friendly act for the government by attacks upon its enemies. Their agent has labored all the time, and during the last year and a half particularly, to remove this idea from the minds of the tribe, and nearly a dozen prisoners were brought in and delivered to the treaty commissioners of 1865, the chiefs promising that such acts should cease. Complaints of raids into Texas, however, continue to be made, but it was thought, until recently, that they were the acts of that part of the tribes not treated with. This impression is destroyed by the evidence recently presented, implicating the treaty Indians, in the bold avowal of the most inhuman acts of outrage by chiefs who had the temerity to come to a military post nearest to their agency and demand a ransom for some of the prisoners. Mr. Taylor, who had charge of the Arapahoes, &c., in that immediate neighborhood, called upon the chiefs to return the prisoners without ransom, threatening them with punishment by the government, but they refused to comply, saying that they would deliver them to their own agent, Colonel Leavenworth, who was temporarily absent from the State; and it appears that an officer of the United States army, commanding one of the posts, induced by the desire to rescue one of the captives from horrors worse than death, has promised to pay a large sum as a ransom. This is the last information received from that quarter. Measures have been taken to obtain the particulars of these occurences from the agent of the tribe involved, and prompt action should follow, under the direction of the department.

The Cheyennes, Arapahoes and Apaches, also treated with in 1865, have for the most part well observed their treaty stipulations; indeed, no complaints whatever have been made of the Arapahoes and Apaches. A small, but resolute and active band of the Cheyennes, known as the "Dog Soldiers," who did not unite with their people in the treaty, have occasioned much trouble, and doubtless have committed outrages on the frontier, they refusing to give up the country watered by the Smoky Hill Fork. They were conferred with by Major Wynkoop, special agent of the department, last February, and their leading chiefs agreed to the stipulations of the treaty of 1865, which does in effect give up the Smoky Hill route, but allowed the Indians to hunt through that country, keeping away from the travelled roads westward. The Indians appear to have construed their signature to the paper forwarded by Major Wynkoop as only a general consent of friendship with the whites, but not as surrendering the Smoky Hill country. Late in the summer Major Wynkoop was sent out again and met some of these chiefs, when, after full conference, those present agreed to yield the contested point. The representation on the part of the "Dog Soldiers" was, however, very limited. The officer referred to has been appointed agent for those tribes, to succeed Mr. Taylor, but has not yet reported his arrival at his post. The latter has recently reported a meeting with the "Dog Soldier" chiefs, and their promise to leave entirely the disputed country and go south, but he fears that their apparent acquiescence is only on account of their desire to obtain their share of the annuities now en route.

The whole matter is a fair illustration of one of the difficulties incident to the Indian service. It is believed that the majority of the Kiowas and Comanches are desirous to observe faithfully their treaty stipulations, and the same may be said as to the In lians of the other agency; yet in the one case some of heir people have committed fiendish outrages upon innocent families in Texas, and in the other an unruly band is alleged to have been perpetrating crimes in

western Kansas. The authority of the head chiefs, who signed the treaties, is lightly regarded by those who commit these crimes, and it is not certain tha they have the power to arrest and deliver over the criminals to the government In such case it becomes difficult to decide as to how far the department is justified in refusing to deliver the promised annuities. Such refusal is likely to exasperate that portion of the tribes now friendly, and to induce an Indian war, with its terrible barbarities and enormous expense to the government.

SOUTHERN SUPERINTENDENCY.

Affairs in this superintendency, composing the tribes and nations belonging to the Indian country south of Kansas, and the Osages, residing upon a large reservation within the limits of that State, have been in such peculiar condition for nearly the whole period since my last annual report that we are without official data for such statement of the present condition of the Indians as has been usual; and as no annual report is received from the late superintendent, Mr. Sells, who resigned to take effect October 1 instant, and whose successor has been appointed, but who has not yet been qualified and taken possession of the office, we are further embarrassed in the preparation of our summary at the present time.

The Cherokees, Creeks, Seminoles, Choctaws and Chickasaws, were all represented in this city from January till late in the summer, and the treaty arrangements finally consummated with them have been fully mentioned heretofore in this report. The people of the various tribes, meanwhile, remained in their own country, to a considerable extent dependent upon the government for the means to keep them from actual suffering; the condition of themselves and their country, as described in the annual report of last year, being such as to preclude the possibility of their doing anything of consequence last year for their own support. It was necessary, therefore, to supply them with the means of subsistence until they could raise a crop. As to the success which has attended their efforts in that direction, this office is not advised; but entertains the hope that, with the return of peace, and the settlement of the disturbances among them arising from the late war, they will speedily recover their former prosperous condition. Indeed, we may fairly go further than this, and predict that, under the provisions of their late treaties, they will now make more rapid progress than before in all the elements of Christian civilization.

The Witchitas and affiliated tribes, who formerly resided in the country leased from the Choctaws, were taken back to their former homes, and, as this office was advised in March, were preparing to plant their crops, but were hindered in their work for want of necessary implements. The agent also reported great destitution among them. Whiskey had been brought among them by Indians from Kansas, and had made much trouble. It is a common practice for unruly spirits, impatient of the restraints of civilization, or other parties, disheartened by the manner in which they have been plundered by unscrupulous whites in Kansas, to leave their reservations and proceed to the Indian country, joining the bands herein referred to; so that it is a difficult agency to manage satisfactorily. Among these people are also fragments of tribes from Texas, as the Tonkawas, Lipans, &c., and the Caddoes and Comanches are represented among them. A new agent has recently been appointed for these Indians, and we may expect to obtain shortly some official information as to their condition.* With the Osages, and other Indians of the Neosho agency, we have kept up more frequent communication; and reference under the head of "Indian treaties" has been already made to the arrangements consummated with that tribe. The Quapaws, Senecas, and Confederated Senecas and Shawnees, have been engaged quietly upon their old reservations, and nothing of special interest has

*For several reports from this superintendency see Appendix.