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Show THE INDIANS OF THE PLAINS, & c. 203 put away all but their lawful wife, I think the evil could be as effectually remedied in a few years. This would also increase the opportunities of the Church in elevating the standard of morality, at the same time that it labored to satisfy the people that their church taught not only a political evil, but a social, moral and natural one. Polygamy has already degraded the woman, and for her to continue as a duplicate wife until circumstances provided a way for her to change her relation, I consider by far pref erable to compelling the man to put her away to become the subject of a public or a private charity. CHAPTER XXI. THE INDIANS OF THE PLAINS AND MOUNTAINS. THE several tribes of Indians living on the prairies, and in the mountains of the West, are so similar in their habits, and in their general traits of character, that I may not im properly speak of them all as one people, and refer to any peculiarities of a single tribe that may occur to me as I wi ite. The tribes that came under my personal observation during the march, of which I have given some account in this work, were respectively the Ottoe, Pawnee, Sioux, Cheyenne, Utes and Shoshones. The first named is but the remnant of a tribe now living on an Indian reservation in Kansas. They are supposed to be more nearly civilized than the others, being thrown in contact with more whites, and to a very limited extent cultivate the soil. They have not been hostile for a long time. The Pawnees have also been greatly decimated by their conflicts with the Sioux, who were vastly their superiors in numbers, though for gallantry and skill in Indian warfare |