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Show 558 REPORT OF THE COMMIBBIONER OF INDUN AJ!FAIRB. a% this agency, I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant. JAMES B. THOMPSON, United Btates Special Indian Agent. Hon. H. R. C L ~ , Aoti?rg Oomnzissioner of Indian Affair6, ~'a8ki~gtoDn., 0. No. 105. OFFICE UNITED STATESI NDIAAGNEN T, Nevada, September 30, 1871. SIR : In accordance with the regulations of the Indian Bureau, I have the honor to respectfully submit my first annual report of the dairm of this a.gency for the Sear ending September 30, 1871. On the 10Ch of April last, at Ionia, Michigan, I rtceived commission aud appointment from the President, confirmed by the Senate of the United States, to be a.gent for the Indians in the &ate of Nevada, (Walker River reservation.) Without unnecessary delay I proceeded to Carson City, Nevada, where for some time I wns delayed, waiting transportation to the reser-ration, seventy-five miles away, but ou the 6th day of May I arrived upon the field, which, together with other matters connected with my first snnTey of the reservation, vere reported in letter under date of M~a.-v 8~ th" . ~ ~ 1 totlncl the P;th TJte 111di~uoxc( !up)ing the rrscr\,;ltion, a1111m ml~ch 01' the c.~~ur~atrd.ivn cent, os tber' are the U I O S ~o xten~ivetr ibe i l l Nt)rn~fniu numbers, 4nd superior in intelligence and culture. At the tune of my arrival there were unusual numbers present, wait-ing the time announced for the great, fa~~dangoro d ance which, I suhse-que~~ t fleya rned, was ca811edt o gratify the desires of some uukuoau prophet, who, in some way, had succeeded in advertising the farce that God was comiug in t h e mou~~tainbse yond with a large .supply for a11 their wants, of what Indians most desire, game, and withal transform the sterility of Nevada to the fertility and beauty of Eden. (All would admit a glorious transformation, but over,which in prospect :110ne they ' would dance.) Not less than one thousand have occllpied their lodgings upon the reservation, or if absent at all, but little time during my sojouru among them, and yet I have nbt heard of the slightest difficulty anlong them that threatened to be of a meriousnatnre. I found them at first what I have found them to be since--a very docile and friendly tribe. The.y are poor, aud but little has ever been done to make tthem otherwise. Their chief subsistence consists of fish, game, grass-seeds, and pine-nuts, the Inttergrowing upon the scraggy pines upon the neighboring mountains. Tile present year is la~~~entaubnlfya vorable for their desires, as the unparalleled drought in this count,ry has entirely cut off the supply of bunch-grass, and consequently no seed to be gathered; also the supply of pinc-nub has sbared the same.fate. Thus the Indians have had to depend almost wholly upon their fish and game, though the increased demand has greatly reduced the game, until that supply is now quite limited. A small number have been rationed from Government supplies, while they have worked to clear off sage-brush and cultivate a portion of laud, nuder the superinteudence of the faithful farmer of the reservation, |