As soon as the issue is completed, a crowd of Indians gather in front of the trader’s store to indulge their passion for gambling, and in a short space of time a number of blankets and other articles change hands on the result of pony races, foot races or any other species of excitement that can be invented.  There is a white man on the ground who is, no doubt, a professional runner, and the Indians back their favorite against him in a purse of over $30.00, which the white man covers, and wins the race by a few inches.  The Indians will not give up, and make similar purses on the two succeeding days, only to lose by an inch or two.  There is a master of ceremonies, who displays a wonderful control over the Indians.  He makes all the bets for the red men, collecting different amounts for a score or more, but never forgetting a single item or person.

Ration day brings out the squaws and dogs in full force; the one to pack the rations to camp, and the latter to pick up stray bits.  A few at a time the squaws enter the store-house and receive their week’s supply of flour, coffee, sugar, salt, etc., for themselves and families.  The beef is issued directly from the slaughter-house, and the proceeding is anything but appetizing to watch.  The beeves to be killed are first driven into a corral, where they are shot by the Indian butchers; when the poor beasts have been shot to death, they are dragged to the door of the slaughter-house and passed through the hands of half-naked bucks, who seem to glory in the profusion of blood, and eagerly seek the position on account of the perquisites attached to it in the way of tempting (?) morsels which usually go to the dogs or on the refuse heap.  The beef is issued as fast as it can be cut up, at the rate of half a pound a day for each person, regardless of age; bacon is also issued as a part of the meat ration.

CHAPTER IX.

CIVILIZATION—­ACTUAL AND ALLEGED.

Tried in the Balances and Found Wanting—­Indian Archers—­Bow and Arrow Lore—­Barbarous Customs that Die Slowly—­“Great Wolf,” the Indian Vanderbilt—­How the Seri were Taught a Valuable Lesson—­Playing with Rattlesnakes with Impunity.

Does Prohibition prohibit? is a question politicians and social reformers ask again and again.  Does civilization civilize? is a question which is asked almost exclusively by persons who are interested in the welfare of the American Indian, and who come in daily contact with him.

In the preceding chapter we have seen some little of the peculiar habits of the American Indian, civilized and otherwise, and it will be interesting now to see to what extent the white man’s teaching has driven away primeval habits of living, hunting and fighting.  Within the last few weeks, evidence of a most valuable character on this question has been furnished by the report submitted to the Secretary of the Interior by the Commission sent to investigate matters concerning the five civilized tribes of Indians in the Indian Territory.  This says that they have demonstrated their incapacity to govern themselves, and recommends that the trust that has been reposed in them by the Government should be revoked.