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Show XXVIII REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. the agent. The c~~s toamin ong the Osages is about t.l~esa me as among all other t.ribes not. fully civilized, and is somewhat as follows : A man who desires to marry goes to the lodge of the woman he proposes to take and sits d o m ~ou tsideof the door, awaiting a,n invitation to go in. At first he s q d s a preseut of one p o n ~a, nd if iu respouse to the gift there is no iui.itation to come mit.hin the lodge, he sends another pony as a present; if the second does i ~ oatn swer the pluyose, a third, fourth, fifth, or eve11 a tenth is sent. When the n~uubero f pollies is satisfac-tory to the father of the woinau, the donor ia in~~i t eindto the lodge and the bargain is completed. If it so happens that. he t,nbes the oldest girl in the family he is e.ntit.led to take all her T0unge.r sisters to himself; or, if he does not take them for himself, he bargains with any after applicaut for their possession. The whole proceeding is a mere matter of bargain and sale, in which women are disposed of without their con-sent, and Tery much like ca,ttle in t.he market. mere is nowhere any limit to the number of wives (as they are called) n.hich an Indian may have, and by their custom he can change the oce~~pasotfs his lodge as often as he chooses. As o~ucr ivilizationis opposedto polygamy, some decisive action should be taken regulating and establishing marriage in all Indian comm~lliti~s. An aet of Congress should provide wholesome and proper mamiage laws for Iudian tribes. The agent should be required to marry all thelndians oohabiting together upon the various reservations, giriug them a oerti6- cate of such marriage; and after the beginning of the next year no Iu-dian should be permitted to marry more than one mife. White men co-habiting with Inclian women should be compelled either to mamy them or to,quit the reservation. The institution of proper and lawful marriage as herein stated would be a great step in the way of the ultimate civili-zationof the Iuclians, and a safeguardin perpetuating title to lands held in severalty. OGALALA AND BBUL* BIOUX. Xeax the close of its last session Congress passed an act authorizing the Secretaq of the Interior to appoint a commission, to consist of three persons, whose duty it should be to -visit the Red Cloud and Spotted Tail Indians on their reservations, and endeavor to prevail on them to remain near the Missouri River. While the stipulations of the agree-ment entered into by these Indians in 1876 that they should receive their annuity goods and supplies near the Nissouri River was the law of the land, yet, when their representatives were on a visit to Washington in September, 1877, the President, in consideration of their eainest desire to go back into the interior, promised them that "v.-ith the consent of the great couucil of the nation," they might go thither in the spring and select suitable locations where there was sdcient arable land, ~ t h wood and water, to make a home for themselves and their children. Although holdiilg this proinise sacred, Congress thought it not improper to institute an inquiq n-hether ail awange~nenmt ight not he made, with |