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Show 36 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIOKER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. the country, and the game upon which the Indians once relied is rapidly dis-appearing. It is impossible that tliey should at once forget tbe training of ages, and adopt the white man's arts, so as to gain even a scant and precarions living thereby; and, were it otherwise, they have no settled home and habitation where those arts could be exercised. As the whites advance the only means by which the wild Indians can sustain life diminish. I t is doubtful, even now, if game is not so scarce in New Mexico that, should the wild Indians wholly abstaiu from plunder a single season, the result would be starvation. That such would be the result a few years hence cannot he doubted. If, then, the Indians are not to be exterminated by violent means, or by the still more revolting method of starvation, nor yet by a combination of both, we must make some other provision for them. That they cannot be permitted to roam unmoleqted through the country, and could not live if they were, is per-mtly evident. It, therefore, follows that they must he concentrated, and must have an established home. Even these will not enable them to live; they must be taught the means of obtaining a liviug, and, meanwhile, must receive assist-ance. Whether this is accomplished by means of direct appropriations of money by C.ongress; or by means of treaties, based npon a recognition of their absolute right to occupy the land upon whichnature has placed them, the cost will be precisely the sme. Tbis being the ease, and there being so many weighty and evident reasons why the latter method should be preferred, it seems preposter-dus that, with' perfect freedom of choice, we shonld hesitate, simply because Mexico, from whom we acquired the territory, did not recognize any right of the Indians in the soil; and it is the more strange because it is a reversal of all our o-+n precedents. I treated upon this subject at considerahle length in my first annual rcport ; I again allude to it because each year of delay is disastrous to the whites as well as the Indians, and because there is no feature of our Indian relat,ions that more imperatively demands the immediate consideration and action of Congress. Very many of the citizens of New Mexico have claims for indemnity for losses occasioned by depredations committed npon them by Indians. For want of appropriate action'on the part of Congress, I am unable to adjust these claims, and it is a source of bitter complaint on the part of the sufferers, and of serious embarrassment to our officers within that Territory. I trust the approaching Con-gress will not fail to adopt such measures as will enable the legitimate claimants to obtain their just dues. OREGON. During the past year our relations with the Indians of Oregon have remained peaceable, and there appears to he no reason to apprehend any serious distnrb-ance in the future. Very full and circumstantial reports have been received from the superin-tendent, agents, and agency employks, from which it will appear that our |
