His scalp lock is most
artistic, and undoubtedly kept in order by a squaw.
The picture of the two generations of chiefs is unique and rare. It
shows in detail the everyday dress of the genuine blanket Indians as
we see them here. Just how it was obtained I do not know, for Indians
do not like a camera. We have daily visits from dozens of so-called
friendly Indians, but I would not trust one of them. Many white people
who have lived among Indians and know them well declare that an Indian
is always an Indian; that, no matter how fine the veneering
civilization may have given him, there ever lies dormant the traits of
the savage, ready to spring forth without warning in acts of treachery
and fiendish cruelty.
CIMARRON REDOUBT,
January, 1873.
IT was such a pleasant surprise yesterday when General Bourke drove up
to the redoubt on his way to Camp Supply from dear old Fort Lyon. He
has been ordered to relieve General Dickinson, and was taking down
furniture, his dogs, and handsome team. Of course there was an escort,
and ever so many wagons, some loaded with tents and camp outfits. We
are rejoicing over the prospect of having an infantry officer in
command when we return to the post. The general remained for luncheon
and seemed to enjoy the broiled buffalo steak very much. He said that
now there are very few buffalo in Colorado and Kansas, because of
their wholesale slaughter by white men during the past year. These men
kill them for the skins only, and General Bourke said that he saw
hundreds of carcasses on the plains between Lyon and Dodge. They are
boldly coming to the Indian Territory now, and cavalry has been sent
out several times to drive them from the reservation.
If the Indians should attempt to protect their rights it would be
called an uprising at once, so they have to lie around on the sand
hills and watch their beloved buffalo gradually disappear, and all the
time they know only too well that with them will go the skins that
give them tepees and clothing, and the meat that furnishes almost all
of their sustenance.
During the blizzard two weeks ago ten or twelve of these buffalo
hunters were caught out in the storm, and being unable to find their
own camps they wandered into Indian villages, each man about half dead
from exposure to the cold and hunger. All were suffering more or less
from frozen feet and hands. In every case the Indians fed and cared
for them until the storm was over, and then they told them to go - and
go fast and far, or it would not be well with them. Faye says that it
was truly noble in the Indians to keep alive those men when they knew
they had been stealing so much from them.
