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Show 8 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONEB OF INDIAN APFAIRS. it for the present, unexpended, to be used when the condition of things at tke agency shall be better prepared for its profitable use. Agent Webster has charge of the tribes parties to the treaty of Neeah bay his labors being principally confined to the Makahs, numbering 675, in regard to whom his report is quite full. T h ~ 3euC ians have seventy-three frame and plank houses, and raised a good crop of potatoes last year, besides obtaining and curine one l~nndrrd tons of fish, ten tons of which thev sold for $1.000. The operations at this agemy are limited, very little&nd hemg chired: the Indians preferring to fish in tbe convenient waters of Pus& sound, tn dev~tin~themselvte<sa gricultural pursuits. Tbe agent, therefor:, recommends that a change of policy be adopted towards them, and that they be eneouragea to enter into the business of fishing as a means of livelihood. He thinks that, by furnishing them with ;a small schooner, of forty or fifty tons, they could do a successful business in catching and curing for market the fish which abonna iu the wide straits of Fuca and in the waters of tbe PaciGe, near Cape Flattery. In regard to the school, the building for which is, aecordmg to Superintendent Waterman's report, suftloient to accommodate two hundred. children in a thri-ving New England town, it appears to have been, thus far, of very mall avail in the education of the chilken, who cannot be mduced to- attend in anv eou-siderable number, or with any degree of regularity. The teacher, however, appears devoted to his work, and indefaticable in his e%rts to induue the ehil-dl& to come in, and writes hopefullvihat some rood will soon be aceom-plielte# l. T11e agl.rlt thinks rhnt i;ojustife has beta d&e in not ibrwardiug for thp uzc of tho ltlclisn~th e funds for farmirtg purposes; but rtis complaint, uu-leas it refrra to the inadeuuacv of the ao~rovriatiou,s n!r1rs to bc mfirunded. .L A Agent Elder's report as'to ihe Pnyallup agency, comprising several tribes and reservations, is favorable on the whole, and he represents the people, under the improved state of things which he has inaugurated, as more prosperous than ever before. The Poyallups, besides subsisting themselves, have sold produce to the amount of over $6,000. From the agent's report it would appear that eleven years of the treaty payments have passed with but little benefit to the Indians. Under nresent reeulations. and with a class of emolov4s more faith- ~ ~ r~ .. tul tu their dutiei, he hope? that thr remailsing nine yean will witnrm zurlr improre~ncnt that rlm lndialts will in that time beabmdautb cspableuf caring fur rhttn~elvt~a.'F o thin P I I ~h e is musin"c th.e I ndidus to brtaue-h t merhanirnl arts, and finds them apt to learn. The Chehalis Indians, numbermg about GOD, are under chazge of this agency. No treaty has ever been made with them, but a portion of them have been con-eentrated 11pon a small hut fertile reservation reserved from sale by the Gene-ral Land Oflice, and am doing well. These Indians are industrious, and are raising an ample subsistence, but they fear that, hsving no treaty, their lands may be taken From them ; and they say, too, that t h q cannohunderstaud why they should not have the benefit of schools, mechanics, and other helps to civili-zation, as well as other Indians. I recommend that the superintendent he au-thorized to treat with these Indians, as I anticipate that w t only will this peaceably disposea tribe be satisfied and improverl thereby, but tbat amoderate ao.n.r oo. riation for their benefit will have the effect of concentratin-e other tribes upon their rcsc~rvatiou, to their great ndvanrnge. Sub-ageut Hill has ni charge rhr Quit~airlrtt srn.ation, newly loeatrd, a change from it8 ionurr Iow~tio~11, avineh ero i ~ ~ a tul dee essarv on xrrunntof ameralenee of poisonous plants. Slow pr~gress is being madevin clearing off ;he heavy timber, and not much ean be done in the way of raising crops until an opening is thus made. A school is desi~able,b ut thesuperintendent, with good reason. I think, deems it best to await operations in getting the Indians sanewhat com-fhrtably situated upon the resesvation. |
