keeping peace between such ancient enomies as these. Fight ing went on as before; and white traders, being exposed to the attacks of all war-partics, suffered almost more than the Indians themselves. The Governnet consoled itself for this spectacle of bloody war, which it was powerless to prevent, by the thought that the Indians would "probably fight on nutil some one or other of the tribes shall become too reduccd and feeble to carry on the war, when it will be lost as a separato power equivocal bit of philosophizing which was stated in these preeise words in one of the annual reports of the War Department.

In the third Article of the next treaty, also at Prairie da Chien, in 1830, began the trouble which has been from that day to this a source of nerer ending misunderstandiug aud of many fierce outbreaks on the part of the Sionx. Four of the bands by this article cedod and relinquished States forever" a certain tract of country between the Missis sippi and the Des Moines River. In this, and in a still further cession, two other bands of Sioux, who were not fully repre sented at the council, must join; also, some four or five other tribes. Landed and "undivided" estate, owned in common by dozens of families, would be a very difficult thing and transfer among white men to-day, with the best that fair intentions and legal skill combined could do; how much more unequivocally -an to the United parcel out to so in those days of unsurveyed forests, unexplored rivers, owned and occupied in common by dozens of bands of wild and ignorant Indians, to be communicated with only by inter- preters. Misconstructions and disputes abont boundarics would have been inevitable, even if there had been all possible fair mindedness and good-will on both sides; but in this case there was only unfairmindedness on one side, and unwillingness on the other. All the early makers of treaties with tlie Indians eongratulated themselves and the United States on tho getting of acres of valualle land by the million for next to nothing,