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Show 62 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. In view of the set,tlement of the country end the consequent disappearance of the game, the time has long sinco gone by when the Indiana can live by the ohsae. They should abandon their idle and nomadic way8 and endeavor to oultivete habits of indnstry, and adopt civilized pursuits to aecure the meanus for self-support. All the agents addressed reported that they had complied with office instructions, and had,taken extra precautions to prevent the Indians under their charge from wantonly killing game or leaving their reser-vations for such a purpose. Captain Ray, U. 8. A., acting agent of the Shoshone Agency, in his report of May 29, 1894, relative to the above iustr~ictions,s tated as follows: I find that article 4 of the treaty with the Eastern Band of the Shoshone Indiana, made July 3, 1868, gioea the Inrlisns the right to hunt on all theunoooupied landsof .the United States, and they have certainly availed themselves of the privilege, but not a single onso of wanton destruction of wild animals has ever come to my howl-edge, nor will I ever permit such prnctioe. In conneotionvith this matter I mi& to call attention to the faot that the present ration forIndians on this reservation (one-half pound of flour and three-fourth8 pound beef, net) is not sufficient to ward off the pangs ofhunger, and they must supplement this sllowenee in some voy or auffer. In abaence of paid employmcnt,whieh will onable them to porchnae food, they will resort to deaperato methods before they will go hungry. TJnlesa they receive sufficient food on the reservation, no power canprs-vent them from killing g m e or cattle., Complaints, however, continued to be made by the governor of Wyo-ming, the prosecuting attorney of Fremont County, and many others from the region south of the Yellomstone National Park. These com-plaints were referred to the respective Indian agents for their informa-tion and with instructions to be especially careful to prevent any wanton destruction of game by Indians in their charge. From some of their reports it is clear that the Indians hadnot been justly complained of, and thzt in Inany instances the charges against them were either altogether false or grossly exaggerated, sometimes willfully so. For instance, Captain Ray, U. S. A., the then acting Indian agent of the Shoshone Agcney, reported that hordes of white hunters infested the country (Yellowstone Park region) entirely unmolested. A full report as to these complaints was made in letter of November 8,1894, of which the concluding paragraphs were as follows: It is my intention to write again to the agents of the Fort Hall (Idaho) and Wind River (Wyoming) agencies, directing them to be watchful to the end that their Indiana give no cause for complaint in this matter; but I think it would be well if soma attention were paid to the foreign and native tourists and others, who go into that country to hunt without let or hindrnce. It is a well-known and admitted faot that the extermination of the buffalo and other large game in the West was the ~vorlr of the whites, principally, and not the Indians, and even now the well-supplied ourio ahops end taxidermists obtan their sopply of heads, antler6 horns, eta., entirely from the former, or very nearly RO, at least. No further complaiuts were received until in the latter part of June last, when Governor Richards, of Wyoming, addressed a letter to $he |
