future interests of the Indians themselves, it is believed that an early opportunity should be embraced to circumscribe their limits, and to concentrate them upon permanent locations, as recommended for their brethren on the east side. There are also bands of Chippewa Indians residing in the region north of the head-waters of the Mississippi, who, from the imperfection of former treaties, do not participate in their benefits, and are therefore in a very destitute condition. Some arrangement should be made to secure to them the means of subsistence and improvement.

It having been found that the country proposed to be given to the Winnebagoes, by the agreement made with them last year, for an exchange of lands, would, in many respects, be an improper location for them, it was recommended by the department that the agreement should be so amended as to assign them a location on the southern branch of the Crow river, to include Red Cedar Island lake.

The amendment which was adopted by the Senate authorized the assignment of this location to them, or one further west, as might on examination be found most advisable. A reconnoissance of the country west having thus been rendered necessary, the arrangements for the permanent establishment of these Indians, unfortunately for them. have not yet been consummated.

The difficulties connected with our relations with the Sioux Indiaus of Minnesota were, a year ago, as explained in the last annual report, of a serious character, but they have happily been surmounted. Congress having, at its late session, confirmed to these Indians the reservations originally intended for them by the treaties of 1851, measures were promptly adopted for concentrating them thereon, and for commencing a system of operations calculated to domesticate and improve them.

During the past season articles of agreement and convention were concluded with the Omaha, Ottoe and Missouria, Sac and Fox of Missouri, Iowa, Kickapoo, Delaware, Shawnee, Kaskaskia, Peoria, Wea, Piankeshaw, and Miami Indians, all residing within the central superintendency, and in the newly organized Territories of Nebraska and Kansas. These tribes possessed lands bounded on the east by the western boundaries of the States of Missouri and Iowa, and lying between the parallels of 37 deg. and 42 deg. 40 min. north latitude, embracing, in the aggregate, nearly 15,000000 of acres; all of which, with the exception of about 1,342,000 acres, being the amount of their several reservations, was ceded to the government. All the cessions vest

the title unconditionally in the United States, except those from the Ioways, the confederate band of Kaskaskias and Peorias, Weas and Piankeshaws, and the Delawares. The stipulations with these tribes are, that the land ceded by them (except the Delaware outlet) shall, after survey, be offered at public sale, and sold to the highest bidder; and such portions as are not so sold shall be subject to entry at $125 per acre for the term of three years; after which time Congress may reduce the price of the land then remaining unsold. The expense of surveying, managing, and selling the land is to be deducted from the proceeds of the sales, and the residue to be paid to the Indians.

The prices stipulated for the lands acquired in Nebraska do not exceed the average prices given heretofore for Indian lands, whilst those for the acquisition in Kansas are greater. This is attributed to the higher grade of title possessed by the Indians treated with in the latter Territory, but which will not necessarily be the case in the conventions contemplated to be held with the tribes there, who are the mere holders of title without guaranty for perpetuity by the United States.

The payments have been graduated and extended so far as was deemed judicious, in view of the condition of the tribes dependent, from present habits, upon annuities for subsistence. But perpetual annuities have been discountenance, as tending to indolence and helplessness. The moneys have been placed, except in a few instances, and in those to a limited extent, under the control of the President of the United States, to be so applied as will, in his opinion, most conduce to civilization, comfort, and mental and moral improvement; and the payment of debts contracted by a few individuals, or alleged to have been contracted by them in the name of the tribes, and termed national obligations, heretofore a prolific source of bribery and corruption, are expressly forbidden.

The lands thus acquired are of excellent quality, eligibly situated, are now being rapidly settled, and will soon be brought under cultivation by that portion of our population who intend to make these Territories their future homes.

Congress appropriated the funds necessary to fulfil the stipulations of these conventions, the Senate having ratified all without amendment, except those with the Miamies and Shawnees. The amendments to the former did not require the assent of the Indians; and those to the latter were assented to by the Shawnees, coupled with the condition that neither the present nor any future council of the tribe should ever appropriate any of the funds stipulated to be paid them

to the satisfaction of certain pretended claims of R. W. Thompson, G. C. Johnson, and Ewings and Clymer, against the tribe. The condition was deemed of such a character as to require the consideration and action of the Senate, and the paper was returned to the Indians, with a suggestion by the department that they should cancel it, make their assent unconditional, and, if they desired to do so, express their views of these claims in the form of an independent resolution. This suggestion was adopted by the Shawnees, the amendments unconditionally assented to, and a resolution unanimously adopted expressive of the wish and desire of the Shawnees, "that no countenance be given by any of the departments at Washington to the aforesaid pretended claims, or any other of a like character."

There are several other tribes in Kansas Territory with which it will be necessary to have new conventions at an early day; and it is also very important that arrangements be made as soon as practicable with the Pawnee and Poncah Indians, of Nebraska, by which their limits may be restricted and defined, and their assaults upon emigrants, and their hostile excursions against other tribes, terminated.

Within the central superintendency no perceptible improvement has taken place during the year in the moral condition of the Indian tribes; while the unusual and protracted drought that has prevailed in that region of country has caused, in many instances, an almost total failure of the crops of some of those who have heretofore attempted to cultivate the soil.

Some of the tribes will have corn sufficient to supply their necessities; and to guard against inevitable suffering and want, it has been determined to retain a portion of the annuities of the present year due to such as are destitute of provisions, and thus afford them the means necessary to procure food during the approaching winter and spring.

The various bands of Sioux, Gros-Ventres, Arickarees, and others of the Upper Missouri agency who are parties to the treaty of Fort Laramie, received their annual presents and annuity goods with great satisfaction. The Arickarees, Mandans, and Gros-Ventres informed the agent that he might in future dispense with any further supply of corn, as they had raised enough for their own use, besides a quantity to sell. The rapid dispersion of the buffalo, and other causes alluded to in the report of the agent, require that such action be taken at once as will lay a foundation for the future support of these people.

The discontent of some of the bands on the Upper Mis

souri, and the attempts of those who committed the massacre near Fort Laramie-alluded to elsewhere-to enlist all the Indians of that region to join them in a general war on the whites-for details of which you are referred to the report of the agent-are, in my judgment, sufficient to require prompt action and such military defences as will be sufficient to protect those who may travel over the plains next spring.

The Omaha, Ottoe, and Missouria, and the Pawnee tribes, embrace the Indians in the Council Bluff agency. Through the neglect of their former agent, and the delay necessarily occasioned by his rejection by the Senate, and the appointment and qualification of a successor, these Indians have had but little attention during the past season. The Omahas and Pawnees have, it is understood, raised and gathered less than an average crop of corn, but the Ottoes and Missourias are without food for the winter, and all of them are nearly destitute of clothing. When recently in Nebraska, I directed the agent to make provision for the necessary wants of the Omahas, and Ottoes and Missourias; and to proceed at once, with parties of each to select the reservations provided for in the recent treaties, so that these Indians may be removed early in the spring. By the treaty with the Omahas it is stipulated that the United States will protect them in their new home from the assaults of the Sioux and other hostile tribes. Without this protection they will not, and indeed ought not to remove; and the military post, before alluded to, should be located with reference to such protection.

The Indians of the Great Nemahaw agency, comprising the Sacs and Foxes of Missouri, and the Ioways and Kickapoos, will, with the partial crop raised by them, and the portion of their annuities withheld to meet their necessities, get along without any serious inconvenience. It is gratifying to know that some of the Indians of this agency are impressed with the necessity of exerting themselves to change their mode of life, to adopt new habits, and to have their means employed in the erection of houses and the opening and cultivation of farms.

The crops of the Indians within the four agencies embracing the Delawares, Shawnees, Wyandots, Pottawatomies, Kansas, Sacs and Foxes of the Mississippi, Chippewas, Ottowas, Kaskaskias, Peorias, Weas, Piankeshaws, and Miamies, have, to a very great extent, failed, and suffering to an unusual degree will only be prevented by the application of a portion of the ample money-annuities, which most of them

have, to the purchase of such supplies as may be necessary for their comfort.

The agents have been instructed to cause the exterior lines of the tracts reserved by the recent treaties with the tribes west of Missouri and Iowa for their future homes to be surveyed and distinctly marked, so that the Indians may remove within them at the earliest practicable period. In the case of the Shawnees, the united tribe of the Kaskaskias and others, and the Miamies, the homes of the Indians cannot be selected until the government surveys are made, embracing the tracts ceded by them; and it is therefore very desirable that the public surveys in the Territory of Kansas should be prosecuted without delay.

The tribes in Kansas and Nebraska with whom conventions have recently been concluded, as well as several others within the range of the emigration to those Territories are now undergoing a severe trial, and it is by no means surprising that their moral condition has not improved during the past year. Most of them were to remove to new locations; but the conventions had first to be ratified by the Senate, and the necessary appropriations made to carry out their provisions. In this unsettled state, the minds of the Indians were ready for any and every impression that the circumstances surrounding them would be calculated to produce. The effect has been, and will continue to be unfavorable to them, until they can be placed securely in their new homes; and it will then require the most faithful attention on the part of their agents, and the constant and devoted efforts of the missionaries and teachers to prevent them from contracting the vices and rejecting the virtues of civilized

life.

It is gratifying, however, to notice the fact that, in the midst of these adverse influences, the various mission schools within the central superintendency from which reports have been received are in a sound, if not flourishing condition, and the number of Indian youth attending them is equal to that of any former year.

As heretofore reported to you, an association of persons has undertaken to appropriate to their own use a portion of the land ceded by the Delawares, fronting on the Missouri river, and south of Fort Leavenworth; have laid out a city thereon, and actually had a public sale of the lots of the same on the 9th and 10th of October last. These unlawful proceedings have not only taken place under the eyes of the military officers stationed at the fort, but two of them are said to be members of the association, and have been active