Semi-weekly south Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1883-1889, 1885-04-17

.ween my broken Cheyenne and his
broken English we managed to make
ourselves mutually understood, and this
Is the substance Of It:
The stuff is called kinne-kan-nick,
md Is sort of wild tobacco made
rom the bark of willow trees. Dur
ng the summer athe squaws gather
bundle of the large sized shoots and
carry them to the tcpec, where the wind
does not blow, and there scrape of the
bark with knife. First the outside
coating is taken of, which is thrown
away; the soft inner bark is then
scraped into piece of antelope or
deer skin and left to dry. IL is Of
dark greenish color, and emits pleas
ant smell. When dry, the squaws
grease their hands with buffalo fat, and !
then crush the bark until it is pulvcr-
lied fine enough for the pipe, the re-
suit Of which is the grease adhering to
the particles of bark makes 1t burn
freely. The Crows and Piegans use n
sort of sumach for tobacco, which Is
found growing on stunted vine in the
Rocky Mountains, far above the per-
petual snow-linc.
All through this Cheyenne village In
dams were existing rather than living,
kind of hihcrnat on, as il were, await
ing the advent OF warm weather before
they come forth from their tepees to lay
in supply of kline kan-nick and
parched corn for the ensuing winter
The Cheycunes have now n reservation
set apart for them by Executive order
dated November 26 last, and us their
reserve joins the Crow reservation on
the cast, Agent Armstrong, the present
agent OF the Crows, is to act in like
capacity for the Cheycnnes,
This reservation is about thirty m les
long by twenty miles wide, and con-
tains little over six hundred square
miles, or about three hundred and
eighty-five thousand acres of land, 1t
is on the south side of Yellowstone
River. between the southern limit of
the forty-mile grant of the Northern
Pacific Railroad and the northern Dor
der Of Wyoming, There are exactly
six hundred and ten CHEYENNE Indians to
provide for, which WI give just one
square mile of land to each buck,
squaw and pappoose. The order pro-
yides that bona fide settlers who were
on the new reserve prior to October 81,
1884, should be allowed TO remain and
retain homestead claim OF one hundred
and sixty acres of land each, bat they
must keep themselves, their herds and
their nocks wi thin their one hundred
and sixty acres and not allow them to
roam at large nor Craze over the
remainder of the reServat on. There
are fifteen settlers, or ranchmen, who
come under the head of bona tide set.
tiers, and their herds are scattered far
and wide over the country. Consider
ing il from any point of view, the or.
der gives satisfaction to neither whites
nor reds. The Indians do not want
white men living on their reservation,
and the latter want the Indians move
out of the country. For long tim ;
the Cheyenncs and the cattlemen have
been ut war-not real open warfare,
but war on the sly; cowboys shooting
at Choycnnes, aud Cheyennes killing a
steer or two when hard pressed by hun
ger, in which. as a general thing, the
Indians got the worst OF it-and as this
remnant of n great race, nomad c for
/ years, without an agent or an agency,
have been knocked around for some
years past, drawing no supplies from
the Government, but endeavoring to
take care of themselves as best they
could. succeeding when left alone and
only failing when crowded to the wall,
and ought to have their sunset of life
smoothed as much rs possible by the
people who have taken everything from
them. il is no more than fair or right
that the Chcyennes should either have
been sent South to an agency where
their kindred. the Sioux, are stationed
or else their new reservation should
have been cleared of white interloper'
and the Indians left TO themselves in
peace.
A little south and west of here are thu
Crows, who have been raising a rum
pus with Montana cattlemen by sign
ing an agreement looking to lease o
their reservation to syndicate of Col
orado cattlemen for grazing purposes
Word comes from Washington that tn,
projected lease has fallen through
which is not believed by Montanian
who are opposed to the scheme. Tn
Crows are all right and are living il
peace and plenty at their new agenc,
on the Little Big Horn River.
In the Northwest the Piegans, VIII
were starving to death at the rate c
about thirty month, are now rollin
in an abundance of provisions OF a
kinds. Some of them fearing famin
similar to their late experience, an
having no faith in the great father a
Washington, "who win not let ther
60 hungry any more" $50 the ageu
tells them), are cacheing provisions b
the Wholesale to provide against
rainy day. The poor redskins hay
been burned once, and they don't wan
any more screenings Of that kind il
is possible to prevent it. This gres
tribe has been dreadfully thinned on
tduring the past three years. The buck
tall, stately, and of fine physique, VIII
once trod the soil beneath their feet q
if they were lords of land they wer'
too, if we come right down to justice
now go about with their heads dow
broken in body. soul and spirit SQUIRE
on mankind, disguised with the pre-
ent and dreadir' of the future.
The old men. women and children
once members of great race. but no
a nation of beggars, feel the effect
and show them plainly, too, of the Isl
starvation policy forced upon then
They are bound to become extinct Ell
long, for the rations they get are II
sufficient for their support, and Il
D.. game that once thronged the NOrtl
west and supplied them with both foe
and clothing has long since disal
peared from the country, so that thel
is nothing left except to suhSist on wis
the Government chooses to give then
and when that falls short to go witt
out aud perish. No nation. race {
: people could long exist under such CT
, cumstanceS; and so. before mar
years. perhaps within the next decad
we may expect to see the remainir
Piegans, like the last of the butfaloe
disappear from the country that HI
been their home for So many gener
! tons.
, Perhaps il would be a good thing f
| this wretched people. instead of stri
inc TO exist under such circumstance