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Show S FROM FORT LEAVENWORTH & c. bad habit of lying in bed in the morning until called to break fast a 8J or 9 o'clock, I early adapted myself to the new state of things however, and soon failed to regard it a hardship to rise with the early bird. No danger was to be apprehended from hostile Indians, south of Fort Kearney, and the only red- skins now in that vicinity are a small band of the Ottoe tribe, who have a settlement on a government reservation a few miles east of the stage road on the Big Blue. We remained over Sabbath in camp near their village, and many of the officers availed themselves of the oppor tunity of observing their domestic life, and visited their wigwams, but I was not among the number, preferring to wait until we penetrated further into the Indian country, before studying the habits of the noble (?) Red Man. i saw enough of the Ottoes, however, to satisfy me that they were a set of begging, thieving, filthy, disgusting savages. Though within a short distance of the white settlements they had adopted but few of the customs of the white man which added to their comfort, or advancement in civiliza tion, but had acquired with readiness his vices. They were eager for whiskey, and I observed them gambling at cards with the soldiers when unable to speak a word of English. They carried away the offal of our slaughtered cattle, and doubtless enjoyed their dinner of it, as one of unusual richness. And this occurred in a country where game is plenty, and the fertile soil yields abundantly of everything cultivated. Sixteen marches brought us to Fort Kearney. As we approached the place, along the Platte River, it could be distinctly seen when 10 or 12 miles away, and in the mirage, its building loomed up as the tall towers of an ancient castle. |