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Show COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. 19 the above-mentioned tribes by the treaty of 1855. A special report, giving an interesting account of his expedition, and describing the lo-cations selected by him for those purposes, is herewith submitted. His selections appearing to be suitable and proper, and the best that could be made within the strip of country to which they had to be confined, have been confirmed, and the Wachitas and a number of other Indians removed there, including those from the two reservations established in Texas a few years since, whom the Department tl~oughpt roper to transfer beyond the limits of that State, to prevent their extermination by bands of persons organized for the purpose. Superintendent Neighbors, on his way back from removing these Indians to their new homes, I am sorry to state, was murdered by some person or persons, whose vengeful animosity, it is supposed, he had incurred by his zealous and uncompromising efforts to protect the Indians and their property from wrong. Copies of papers giving an account of this tragic and lamentable occurrence, and of the circum-stances under which the removal of these Indians became necessary, are herewith submitted. It was stated in the report of last year that, in order to complete the colonization of the Indians in Texas, it was contemplated to establish .- a third reservation there, for which authority had been given by Con-gress, but tbat body, at its late session, prohibited the expenditure of any part of the appropriation then made for the service in Texas for tbat object ; and, in view of the circumstances which compelled the breaking up of the other reservations, all further efforts to colonize the Indians there should be abandoned. From the reports of the superintendent and the agents in New Mex-ico, the condition of Indian affairs in that Territory seems to be grad-ually improving ; though that populous and warlike tribe, the Navajos, continued to act in bad faith, and will, probably, have to be more thoroughly chastised, in order to impress u on them a proper sense of their treaty obligations, and to compel t Ke m to desist from the continued depredations and outrages upon our citizens. It also appears that there have been difficulties between some of the emigrants to the new mining region and a portion of the Utah tribe of Indians in the northern part of the Territory, resulting in the loss of life on both sides; but, all the circnmstances considered, it is only a matter of surprise that such casualties have not been more frequent since the commencement of the great influx of the whites into that region of country. Superintendent Collins, in accordance with instructions from this office of tbe 18th of May, 1859, accompanied the Honorable John S. Phelps, of Missouri, who was joined by Colonel Bonneville, Captain Granger, Captain Hatch, Captain Claiborne, and Lieutenant Jackson, of the army, with 180 men, as far as Utah creek, which empties into the Canadian river, with a view to hold a talk with the Comanches. Notwit.hstsnding every effort was made to induce the Indians to remain in camp until their arrival, and every assurance given as to the friendly object of their visit, they broke up their camp in great confusion and fled in the direction of the Salt Plains in the north. For a detailed |