[194] Their schools are mostly conducted in English, yet among some tribes they are often taught in their native languages. As in other respects, the Cherokees have made the greatest advancement in a literary point. Their singular system of characters representing syllables, invented by an illiterate native, is no doubt known to most of my readers. In these characters, a considerable number of books have been printed in their vernacular tongue. Many Cherokees, however, as well as Choctaws, have received good English educations. In the language of the latter also a great number of books have been published, but in which the common letter is used. A few books have also been printed in the languages of the Creeks, Wyandots, Potawatomies, and Ottawas, Shawnees, Delawares, and some in the different dialects of Osage, Kansas, Otoes, etc. There is now a printing-office in operation at Park Hill, in the Cherokee Nation, and another among the Shawnees at the Baptist Mission.--GREGG. [195] By the treaty of 1825 with the Choctaw, a fund of six thousand dollars per year for twenty years was to be allotted for the use of schools. The Indians requested that a portion of this fund might be used to educate boys at a distance from home. This was a cherished plan of Colonel Richard M. Johnson, who was chosen sponsor for the new academy, and began the erection of buildings near his home at Great Crossings, in Scott County, Kentucky, where the first boys were received in the autumn of 1825. Baptist co-operation was enlisted, and Rev. Thomas Henderson chosen first principal of Choctaw Academy. At first the school flourished, and Indian boys from many other tribes were sent to Kentucky, until at one time the academy had an enrollment of more than one hundred and fifty lads. In consequence of the dissatisfaction which Gregg here describes the Choctaw and other Southern Indians began to withdraw their boys about 1842, and the school's usefulness terminated. Consult _House Ex. Docs._, 26 Cong., 2 sess., 109. The civilized tribes now maintain several higher boarding schools and academies in the territory. The Choctaw and Chickasaw each have five; the Cherokee two at Tallequah, in which the nation is much interested.--ED. [196] By no means the least considerable of the frauds practised upon the frontier Indians, have been by contractors and government agents. The character of these impositions may be inferred from the following instance, as it is told, and very generally believed, upon the southwestern frontier.