get nearly all the money.

These licensed traders are numerous, and generally plant
themselves at the time the money is paid over in the im-
mediate vicinity of the place where the payment is
made: they sell the Indians the most trifling and
worthless articles for an enormous profit: he is temp-
ted oftentimes to buy these articles from their gaudy ap-
pearance--after he has parted with his last dollar
in money to the whiskey seller of licensed trader in
payment of old debts for whiskey or some of the above
mentioned articles (and they are always largely indebted
to these dealers) he then takes the articles he has purchased
of the licensed trader to the whiskey shop and sells them
for a much less price than he gave, and takes his pay
in whiskey at ten or even twenty times its actual cost
to the seller. It is no uncommon thing for an Indian
after he had parted with all his money and many other
necessary articles; to barter away his gun, horse, and even
his blanket of a few bottles of whiskey--we were
credibly informed that these whiskey shops not unfre-
quently have large piles of blankets, and large stacks
of guns that have been taken from these poor natives
for a little whiskey.

Thus we see that the policy of the Government

,
and the benevolent efforts of those who are honestly
labouring amongst them for their good are entirely defea-
ted by the avarice and wickedness of these lawless men.

On sixth day of the week and first of tenth
month, agreeable to previous arrangement, we met
about thirty of thier chiefs and principal men in Council
at the Agents house. Our object in calling them
together was explained to them by David Lowry

the
sub agent, and then our Certificates from our friends,
the Letters and Tack from the Secretary of War, address-
ed to them--we then felt constrained to make a few
remarks and extend such advice as seemed proper.
After which, Little Hill, one of the chiefs, replied,
That what he had heard was very good, and that they
had heard a number of such talks from thier great
father the President; and he had promised to help
them, and keep off the whiskey sellers, but he
had not done it: and now it was too late: he
supposed he had tried, but could not; and had such
great matters to attend to that he could not see to their
small concerns, and now it was too late to help them.

We then told them we did not believe it was too late,
for them to refrain from drinking whiskey; we told them that
much that they had complained of we believed to be true, and
that the white man had wronged them; but that we wished
them to understand that they yet had good friends among
the whites who were grieved with the conduct of bad white
men towards them; we hoped they would not be disour-
aged, but strive to do better themselves, and that we and
our brothers at home were disposed to do all in our
power to help them; and after making on our part
some other remarks relative to their condition, they ex-
pressed their satisfaction. Little Hill

spoke to some
of the elder Chiefs, and as we understood requested them to
reply to us, as he was young, and wanted some of his
older friends to make a speech. They said
they were well pleased with our talk, but had nothing
further to say. Little Hill then arose and shook hands
with us, and then commenced speaking to us through the
interpreter Young Lowry. Refering to their former con-
dition previous to this intercourse with the whites, he
said the Great Spirit had made us all, but he had
made us different. Some men he made white, some
he made red; and placed them at a distance one
from the other. They the red man lived happy, and
he supposed the white an lived happy too. They
then had no sickness nor deaths amongst them except
from old age; all thier people lived to be old and
white headed; but when the white man came amongst
them, they then became sick and died young. The
white man brought fire water amongst them--they
supposed that the white man got the whiskey from
the bad Spirit, for surely they never got it from the
Good Spirit. They began to sell it to the Indians
and then thier miseries commenced; and they had be-
come reduced and could not repair from drinking so
long as the white men sold it to them; and now
they dispaired of ever being any better--and the only way
for them to be made better was to keep the whiskey
away.

The white man did not know what