“So the answer to your question as to whether the Indians drank more then or now must be that in the early years after 1873, when there was just one honest white deputy marshal named Nichols, they drank practically none at all, most of them never tasting it for years; but that later, after the swarm of mixed-blood deputy marshals arose, there was much drinking under the manipulation of those men, restrained, however, by their very great lack of money, for at that time none of them had got any. “As to your other question, namely, the relative healthfulness of the Indians then and now, I would say that there was always much tuberculosis among them, owing to their crowding into one-room cabins, heated very hot in the winter, without ventilation; and if there was one tubercular patient, that one was spitting over everything, so that if there was one sick in a family he or she almost necessarily communicated the infection to everyone who was infectible. They say that formerly, when they lived practically in the open air, winter and summer, in their birch-bark wigwams, though in a 40–degrees-below-zero temperature in winter, and lived on a flesh diet, that consumption was unknown among them; but in the transition state, when shut up in the one-room cabin, living on salt pork and heavy bread, and in many other unsanitary ways, the ravages of consumption have been serious. Whether worse now than in the days from 1873 to 1898 I do not know. I only remember a few who had sore eyes, which I suppose was trachoma, in those days. “Believe me, very respectfully yours, “J. A. GILFILLAN” There has always been a conflict between the full-bloods and mixed-bloods of Minnesota, and especially at White Earth reservation. This dates from the migration of a number of mixed-blood Indians (chiefly French-Canadian) from Canada. They have caused no end of trouble, and by clever manoeuvering dominated the councils. The favorite chief of the entire Ojibwa nation was Hole-in-the-Day. He became war chief in 1846. The Indians talk of him even at the present day, and the story of Ojibwa, presented towards the end of this book, will be found of interest in this connection. The Indians told me, during the investigation of 1909, who were responsible for the murder of this fine old chief, but they were unwilling to testify, fearing the vengeance of the French-Canadian element. The following interesting communication, from one in authority, clears up the murder of Hole-in-the-Day, and explains the hostility between the scheming mixed-bloods, and the honest, although ignorant full-bloods. [Illustration: INDIAN SCHOOL CHILDREN IN UNIFORM, PINE POINT WHITE EARTH, MINNESOTA ]