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Show - 3 - ' • tenns aro bought with trust funds and the bills of sale are made out in duplicate and made to tho officer in charge rather than to tho Indian. Hot only is this done, but the Indians sign a bill of sale a, part of whioh contains an agreement that he v*ill not sell or dispose of the animals thu3 bought without the written consent of the offie or in charge. Han ifestly any sale negotiated on such stock by the Indian ia entirely invalid, and many instances have oome to my knowledge whero in similar cases the stock was recovered from the purchasers. On the other hand the Indians have oonslderable pony stock and some real good horses running at large on the reservation and some domestio stock whioh are unquestionably their personal property and may be sold by them without supervision. In f aot the majority of horses owned by them are by actual count of this latter class; but a purohaser intending to buy horses from these Indians would do well to ascertain how they cam© by the stock, for re have bills of sale for a great many of their horses and , even for sore very inferior stock. We ,buy teams for aged Indians which are sometimes old and cheap and small, and it would not be true to say that any of thoir pony stock might be safely purchased lest a few horses of this class may be included; but it will usually be easy to find out from the Indians offering a horse where he got it, nnd whether or not It has ever been bought through this |
