hope." A more reasonable view of the situation would have scen in it very groat hope. That out of five hundred warriors a few score should have been already found willing to work WAs most reassuring, and promised well for ihe future of the tribe

For the next ten years affairs went on badly with the Sionx; they were continually attacked by the Chippewas, Ottawas, and others, and continually retaliated. The authorities took a se- sible view of this state of things, as being the easiest way of So long securing the safety of the whites. aro at war with eaeh other they will not feel a disposi- as they the In diuns) tion to disturb the peace and safety of onr exposed frontier set- tlements," wrote Governor Dodge, in 1840.

Whiskey traders flocked faster and faster into the noighbor- hood; fur traders, also, found it much more for their interest to trade with drunken Indians than with sober ones, and the Sioux grew rapidly demoralized. Their annuities were in ar rears; yet this almost seemed less a misfortune than a blessing, since both money, goods, and provisious were so soon squandered for whiskey

In 1842 several of the bands were redaccd to a state of semi- starvation by the failure of corn crops, and also by the failure of the Senate to ratify a treaty they had made with Governor Doty in 1841.^[1] Depending on the annuities promised in this treaty, they had neglected to make their usual provisions for the winter. Frosts, which came in June, and drought, which followed in July, combined to ruin their crops. For several years the water had been rapidly decreasing in all the lakes and streams north-west of Traverse de Sioux: the musk-rat ponds, from whic the Indians used to derive considerable revenne, had dried up, and the musk-rats had gone, nobody

knew where; the beaver, otter, and other furry creatures had