New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1859-07-19
AN OVERLAND JOURNEY.
XIV.
.I.ot THE POOR INDIAN"

Os.ee, K,ckspoo, Potswatamie and Otter'-"hhe
ns Buaalo range and all this side belongs to and Is
ys,celed among the Cbsyennes, the Arapahoes ana
ssd the Apacbes-or perhaps among tue Two
farmer oply az Indian boundaries are not very Wen
defined. At all events, we have met OF parse"
hand, Of these three tribes, with OCCASIONAL 'stors
%,o,, The Sjoux ON the north and the Conanches on
A. soutb- all these tribes having for the present
. GOOD understanding. The Utea, who inhaot tue
maintains, and are stronger and drawer tdsn any
one Of the three tribes fret named though hardly
>.fch for them all, are at with them; the
AIspaho Chief Left Hand assures me that bis peo-
pie were alr0ys at war with the Ctes-at least ne
kss DO recollection, no tradition offs time when they
we're at peace. Some two or three hundred lodges
Of AIspahoes are encamped 10 and about tnis
log city, calculating that the presence OF the WHITES
will afford some protection to their wives ana
children aeaiD,t Ute onslaught while the braves
are Of on any of their 6ghting-that 10, stealing
expedit obs. An equal or larger body OF Utes are
esuped in the Mountains, some forty or htty miles
event. and the Arspsho warriors recently refuencd
i, triumph from war party on which they man
.s~d to steal about hundred horses from the Utes
h., were Obliged to b most of them in their rapid
a;gbt. 90 that they only brought home forty more
than ,bey took away They going out sgain in
. day or two, and have been for some days prac-
ticipg secret iDcantations and public observances
with reference thereto. Last midnght, they we're
10 have had grand war-dance, and to have leit on
the wal path to-day; but their men rent out after
their horses reported that they cav three Utes On
the plain, which was regarded as prernonltory OF
an attack, and the "braves }" stood to their arms
all night, and were very anxious for White AID 10
care of Ute foray on their lodges here 10 Denver
Such an attack seems very improbable, ana pre-
anne the three Utes who caused all this uprosr were
s;apy scouts or spies, on the watch for just such
msraudipg surprise parties as our Arapaho neigh
bors are constantly meditatng. i DO not see why
they need take even this trouble There are
points on the Mountain range west of this city
where Waterman with sharp eye and good
glass would command the entire plain for fifty
miles north, south and east of him, and might
bepce give intelligence of any Arapaho raid at
least day before brave entered the Mountains.
For, though It is true that Indians the war-path
travel or ride mainly by night, find that the
Arspsboes do this only after they have entered on
that they start from their lodges in open day, aud
Only advance under cover of darkness after they
IRE within the shadows of the Mountains Hence,
The Utes, who are cOnessedly the stronger, might
ambush and destroy any Arapaho force that should |
venture into their Rocky Mountain recesses, by |
Tie help Of good ipy-glass and little White |
forecast.
But the Indians are children Their arts, wars, |
treaties alliances, baoiiatons, crafts, properties
commerce, comforts, all belong to the very lowest
and rudest nges OF human existence Some few OF
The chiefs have narrow and short-sigh ted shrewd
pe,s, and, very rarely in toeir history, really
great man, like Pontiac or Tecumseb, has arisen
among them; but this does not shake the general
truth that they are utterly incompetent to cope IN
any way with the European or Caucasian race
Any band of schooboys from ten to fifteen years
Of age, are quite as capable OF ruling their appe-
tites, deyisipg and UNFOLDING public pohcy, con-
sttuting and conducting state or community, as
m average Indian tribe. And, unless they shall be
trsat4d as truly Christian community would treat
. band of orphan children provdentially thrown on
it, hands, the Aborigiues of this country Will be
practically extinct within the next fifty years
i have learned to appreciate better than hitherto,
and TO make more allowance for, the dislike, aver
sion, contempt, wherewith Indians are usually re-
xarded by their white neehoors, and have been
since the days Of the Puritans. 1t needs but little
familiarity with the actual, palpable Aborignes to
convince any one that the poetic Indian-the Indian
Of Cooper and Longfellow-is only visible to the
poets eye To the prosaic observer, the average
Indian Of the woods and prairies is being who
does little credit to human na.ure-a slave of APP
petite and sloth never emaDcipated from the tran-
~ Of one animal passion save by the more raven
Gus demands of another. As passed over those
magnificent bottoms of the Kansas which form the
Reservations of the DelaSsres, Potawatamies,
sc constituting the very best cornands on earth,
and saw their owners sitting around the doors Of
their lodges at the hight of the planting season aud
in ss good bright planting weather as sun and soil
ever made, could not help saying, "These people
"must die out-there is no help for them. God
"has given this earth to those who will subdue
and cultivate it, and it is vain to struggle against
=" His righteous decree" Aud yesterday tried
my powers of persuasion on Left.lland-the only
Arapaho chief who talks Enelsh-in favor of an
Arapaho Tribal farm-say of two hundred acres
for u beginning-to be broken and fenced by the
common efforts Of the tribe, and patch therein
allotted to each head Of family who would agree
10 plant and till i'll spprehend to very little pur
vose. For Left Hand, though shrewd in his way,
is m Indian, and every whit as conservative as
Rnston's Reacnn- street or pur Fiji ayenue He