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Show EEPORT OF THE BOARD OF INDIAN COMMISSIONERS. 45- cnrred? Or, if Lieutenant Whitman and the interpreters and soldiers were to take them further up into the Final country, would they prefer it? Answer. The country still pleases them ; they wish to remain here ; this has always been their home, the home of their fathers, and they want Lieutenant Whitman as their agent, and these two men as their interpreters. They wish to go out and hunt, and if this campaign is stopped they will show that they can behave themselves. They have now had their talk, and they would like to have their share of the goods distrib-uted to them now. When the other chiefs come in they can have theirs. In the afternoon they came again. Esce- uela said he had been thinking over what I had told him, and now he had come to speak of it. Said he wanted to plant wheat on the San Pedro, and corn on the Aravapa. Commissioner Colyer remarked that the chief had changed his mind since yesterday. He said nothing to that, but that he wished the man who was there should remain there. Mr. Austin owns the farm. Mr. Filmore occupies it. TALK WITH ES- CIM- EN- ZEEN, THE HEAD CHIEF OF THE ARAVAPA FINALS. ES- CIM- EN- ZEEN said : " He was glad to come in to his old home. He was the first to come in and make peace before and was happy in his home here. He got his rations every three days. He was not living far from here. He was making tiswin ( a drink) in peace, when one morning he and his people were attacked,, and many of them were killed. The next day after themassacre he came into this camp because he knew it was not the people here who had done it ; it was the people from Tucson and Papagos. He then continued to live here in the valley for nearly thirty days, when his people were again attacked; this time it was by a squad of military men, and, although none of his people were killed, yet that made him mad, and he went on the war- path. He now admits he did wrong, but he was grieved and angry, and he could not help it. The one who first breaks the peace is the one who is to blame. He believes Commissioner Colyer has come to make peace, and is glad he has put tobacco before him to smoke. They have always known that they had a great father and a great mother. The com-missioner had sent out for him, and probably thought he would see a great captain, but lie only saw a very poor man, and not very much of a captain. If he had seen him about three months ago, he would have seen him a captain. Then he had a band of seventy men, but they had all been massacred ; now he has got no people. Ever since he left this place he has been in the neighborhood; he knew he had friends here, but he was afraid to come back ; but as soon as he heard the commissioner was here then he came in. He never had much to say, but this he could say, he likes this place. He has said all he ought to say, since he has no people anywhere to speak for. If it had not been for the massacre, there would have been a great many more people here now ; but, after that massacre, who could have stood it ? It was not possible for any man to have stood it. When he made peace with Lieutenant Whitman his heart was very big and happy. The people of Tucson and San Xavier must be crazy. They acted as though they had neither heads nor hearts." SUNDAY MORNING, September 17, 1871. The chiefs calling to see Commissioner Col-yer, he told them " he was glad to see them. They must not expect everything to go right at first. It takes a long time to heal a wound. They have a good friend in the President, and he will do his best to deal justly and kindly with them." Ex- eim- en- zeen replied that " he thanked God. They are happy now, but perhaps as soon as the commissioner has gone the soldiers will begin to kick them and point their rifles at them. That they don't like. They are contented now, but their young men are active, and being prevented from hunting they collect around the post, and get mixed up with the soldiers. Sometimes the soldiers kick them and throw stones at them ; this makes trouble, as the young men feel bad." Commissioner Colyer told them they would try to separate the post from the Indian agency. This they said was good, and it pleased them. They were glad that nothing had happened while he was here to break this good peace. They think the people of Tucson and San Xavier ( the Papagos) must have a thirst for their blood. They seem to be always pursuing them. They think that as soon as the commissioner has gone these people will return again and try to massacre them. They want, as soon as he hears anything of the kind, that he will return and judge for himself. They believe these Tucson people write for the papers and tell their own story. The Apaches have no one to tell their story, so they want the commissioner to come again. They think it must have been God who gave him a good heart to come and see them, or he must have had a good father and mother to make him so kind. The commissioner told them " It was God ;" they said, " It was." They said, " They believed the Papagos could not have any God, they had always been so cruel, and had tried to persecute the Apaches as long as they could remember." It is just three days since they, the Apaches, have been here, and they have been happy. It seems to them that the arroyos ( ravines) have been all smoothed over ; that there are no more thorns or briers to prick them, nor snakes and reptiles to poison them. He said that Lieutenant Whitman knew |