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Show REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. 5 to feed in the many ranges furnishing an abundance of grass of excel-lent quality. These Texas cattle, properly cared for, make very good, nntritious beef; more like wild meat, however, as the meat is lean and not so interlarded with fat as stall-fed eastern cattle. The southernmost agencies get the poorer class of cattle, which have been driven only a comparatively short distalice without the advantages of such grass as grows in the Platte Valley. Heretofore the government has paid little attention to the aualitv. or even weight, of cattle for the Indian service. This, however, i s ~ n d & ~ o iinv~e stkation wiLh a view to a better reg-ulation of this branch of the service. Flour is the next meat article of food furnished to the Indians, and the standard used for the purpose is known as the Xcw York XX flour. The chief ditlicu!ty in getting the full percentage of value out of flour arises from the ignorance of the Indians in the art of bread-making. This is only to be overcome by a more systematic and thor-ough course oE education for Indian girls. Uorn bas been furnivhed to the Indians recently in large quantities, but where they have no facilitiesfor making~itn tocorn-meal, they have in many iustances sold it to the traders. It IS, therefbre, useless to send the corn unless there are mills to grind it at the agencies. Ooru.mea1 cannot be sent to the agencies, as it sours very soon, and can only be used when fresh ground. ,JÐODS OF CLOTHING INDIANS. The blanket must give way. It is only tolerable in the rudest savage life. It is unfitted to be the garment of civilization and labor j and as the Indian is gradually brought to give up his nomadic life for one of labor and industry, the question of clothing becomes one of practical interest as bearing upon his advancement and civilization. The custom hitherto pursued has been to furnish blankets, and clothing made of cotton-warp fabrics, known in the market as 'csatinetsn and "meltons.:' Clothing made of these materials is not serviceable, as the garments become threadbare with the least wear,,and will rend with slight strain. In an economic point of view nothing is more useless, and, indeed, ex-travagant, than clothing made of these materials. We should have a ' uniform material, made entirely of wool-llke army-cloth-for Indian clothing; and the garments should consist of a coat and pantaloons, the coat to be in shape like the old fringed rifle-coat or blouse, with a belt at the waist. The object should be to secure the comfort of the wearer and uniformity in style of clothing, so that competitors for clothing-contracts might know in advance precisely what kind of gar-ments would be wanted for the Indian service. In this connection I would say that one Indian agent proposes to erect a woolen-mill at his agency, to enable the Indians to make their own cloth from wool of their own raising. This would be advisable if the necessary machinery to do the work were simple and inexpensive. REMOVALS TO THE INDIAN TERRITORY. Experience hasdemonstrated the impolicy of sending northern Indians to the Indian Territory. To go no farther back then the date of the Pawnee removal, it will be seen that the effect of a radical change of climate is disastrous. as this tribe alone. in the first two years. lost bv death over 800 out of its number of 2,376. The northern ch'eyenn& have suffered severely, and thePoncas who were recently removed from |