THE RIO INDIANS OF NORTH AMERICA.

Otago Witness, Issue 2251, 22 April 1897, Page 49

THE RIO INDIANS OF NORTH AMERICA.

O£ all fcho pa^uu racas whose reooid liistory has preserved, the Hid Indians of North America seem to faavo been the most: religious and the raoM; moral. When fieed from tho contagion o£ the white man's vices thay have displayed a large stock of natural virtues. Pere lo Jeune, the famous Jesuit missionar}'^ places the/n, in, respect of morals,- above the* French peasants ; while others have daclared that they are not inferior to any of. the nations of Europe. An eminent Canadian "judge told me tbat to-day there ia % smaller proportion of Crimea among the Indians than among the whites, and that they are easily managed whan not provoked. I heard sn Indian trader say that all who have traded with th&m have a high appreciation of theic .many excellent qualities. Many of the, missionaries now labouring among them havo stated that they never locked a door or chest, nor bad an article stolen, till the white men came among them! The Indiana have no prisons or locks ; happy people ! Bishop Wbipple writes : "In 36 years' experience with the ludians I never knew one to tell me a lie, and I never had a thing stolen by one. I asked an Indian once if it was safe to leave my property in my.wigwam while I made a distant journey. He laughed and said, • Qaite safe ; there isn't a white man within a hundred miles of you.' "

In 1872, Sitting Bull, the chief of the Sioux, annihilated a company of 709 fullyarmed American cavalry, led by General Caster. Not one American soldior lived to tell the tale. Sitting Bull, like Caosar, was both the general and the historian of the battle. He protests that he was compelled to fight against his will. He began tht> battle by committing himself and his tribe to the Great Spirit. "The Great Spirit," ha BP-id, " will look ou, and the side that is in the wrong will be defeated." Strangely enough, two or three soldiers wore then unhorsed by lightniDg. " The Grpat .Spirit," he exclaimed, " is on our side; look how he is striking the soldiers down. 1 ' Only 26 Indianß lost their lives in this encounter. Lord Lome saya that the Indians used the heliograph and signalling by flashes before these methods were used by our army ; and that the movements of the mounted police wera signalled by the Indians in this way. Mr Meacham says that the victories of the Modocs over the United States soldiers in 1873 were unparalleled in history ; and that it coat £50,000 to kill a Modoc. The unevangelised Indians of to-day are weak as children, and cannot stand before the temptations of the white man. They are idle, and have no idea of providing for the morrow. They are passionately fond of whieky, horse-racing, and gambling. In these accomplishments they are not one whit behind tens of thousands of our better-ofr classes. The Indians understood all the shrewd tricks of the turf, with one exception : they have not discovered the trick of sacrificing their honour. In gambling, they will slake their living wives and daughters, as the ancient Egyptian gamblers used to stake their ancestral mommiei, The Indian woman is bought and sold, and is used as a drudge. The worst charges brought sgainßt the Indian are his cruelty and treachery in war. But the instinct of revenge is the only shield aeainst wrong in such a society ; aud

often it is the only way in which justice can assert itself.

In the early wars the French and English employed the Indians, and gave them a premium for every scalp of the enemy they could produce. In recent warß the Indians have usually had justice on their side. Mr Meacham, who was nearly killed by the Indians in revenge, makes an awful indictment against his Government. They have never, he says, treated the Indian as a man. Not more than Idol in 10 that were promised reached the Ifldianß. They were treacherous in the Modoc war of 1873 ; but It was on the very spot where a United Siafces general had killed some of their tribe .■while under a flng of truce. Josh Billings says that "the best way to civilise an * Injun ' is with a rifle at 300 yards." His countrymen have largely adopted that policy, and also the proverb that " a good Indian is a dead Indian." It is admitted by all that the Canadian Government has been strictly faithful to its -compacts with the Indians ; and that they have had their reward. The red man is melting away like snow before the sun. The chief reason is, if the truth must be told, that they are dying of diseases that afflict only evil livers, and which have been given them by white moa. .No darker page than this can be found 'in the history of our race. — From At The Red Indians, Pagan and Christian," by JAME3 Wells, D.D., in the Sunday Magazine.