There is no doubt but most of these nations are disposed to advance from the barbaric type, though as yet they have made but little progress. Indeed, when we consider their mode of life, wants, and situation with regard to each other we can not imagine how they can well be anything more than what they are. Harassed by internal wars, pinched by necessities that compel them to constant exertion, discouraged by the ravages of diseases, and overwhelmed by innumerable superstitious fears, their condition is not one calculated to prepare either mind or body for the arts and habits of civilization. The whole tenor of an Indian’s life, and the sum and substance of all his labors is to live, to support his family, and rear his children, and he must bring them up in such a way that they in their turn can do the same. For this all is risked, and to this end the whole of their occupations, even their amusements, tend. They would be most willing to embrace any mode of life by which this main object could be realized with less risk and toil than the one they now pursue, but they must first be convinced of the certainty of success in the strange pursuit to which their formed habits must give way before they would apply themselves. Their present manner is certainly precarious, but they would not abandon it unless some better way to live was made manifest, not by tales and speeches but by actual experiment. Indians (men) will not work. Even the slight attempt at agricultural labor by the few nations on the upper Missouri who raise corn and other vegetables devolves solely upon the women to perform them, and the men hunt as the other tribes. Meat must be had, and as yet no relish has been formed by any of them, except the Sioux, for the flesh of domestic animals. Notwithstanding all this, we see in many things a desire to change for the better, exhibiting itself in a general feature of improvement when compared with that of 20 years since. Within that time and within our acquaintance with these people the Sioux, Assiniboin, and other nations were much more savage than they now are. At the period to which we allude it was almost impossible for even the traders, much less strangers, to travel through their country without being robbed and often killed. Horses were stolen from whites on all occasions; every person outside the fort was liable to be abused, imposed upon, flogged, or pillaged, and even their dealings with each other were no better. Murders upon slight provocation, robberies, and misdemeanors of all kinds were common among them. Even whole bands armed against each other and skirmishes took place whenever they met.