l kill us, our squaws and
children, and steal our horses. We must stay in our village for
fear of them. Our Great Father has promised us soldiers to help us
keep the Dakotas out of our country. No help has come yet; we must
wait. Has our Great Father forgotten his children? We want to live
in our country, or have pay for it, as our Great Father is used to
do with his other red children. We, the Arickarees, have been
driven from our country on the other side of the Missouri River by
the Dakotas. We came to our brothers, the Gros Ventres and Mandans;
they received us as brothers, and we all live together in their
village. We thank our brothers very much. We want our Father to
bring us guns to hunt with, and we want dresses, coats, pants,
shirts, and hats for our soldiers, and a different dress for our
chiefs. We want a school for our children. Our hearts are good. We
do not speak with two tongues. We like to see our white brothers
come among us very much. We hear bad talk, but have no ears. When
we hear good talk, we have ears.

his
WHITE x SHIELD.
mark

To our Great Father in Washington.

INDIAN TRADING.

A bargain is never concluded so long as anything more can be obtained
by an Indian from a white man. This feature of Indian character is very
old indeed. I remember, when a child, that when one gave his brother a
ball, or anything, and took it back again, he was called "an Indian
giver." Mr. Hinman gives this experience: "If an Indian (not a
Christian) gives, he expects soon to ask more in return. This is the
selfish habit of all heathen, and when they have power, they often
accompany their demands for gifts with threats of killing one's horse,
etc., if their demands are not complied with. They seem to know nothing
of disinterestedness, except among persons nearly related. An Indian
will press you with his pipe one day, and the next, with a polite
speech about not intending to ask pay for his pipe, which he treasured
highly, intimates that he needs a blanket!

"One will offer to assist you to work for a day, and the next ask to
borrow two dollars. They try to get you so indebted to them for favors,
that you cannot decently refuse their requests. In all their speeches
they try to prove to you that you are indebted to them." So one will
ask as few favors of them as possible. He says, "I was surprised at the