During all this time the Indians of all tribes within striking distance of the herds killed an immense number of buffaloes every year. In the summer they killed for the hairless hides to use for lodges and for leather, and in the autumn they slaughtered for robes and meat, but particularly robes, which were all they could offer the white trader in exchange for his goods. They were too lazy and shiftless to cure much buffalo meat, and besides it was not necessary, for the Government fed them. In regard to the number of buffaloes of the southern herd killed by the Indians, Colonel Dodge arrives at an estimate, as follows: "It is much more difficult to estimate the number of dead buffalo represented by the Indian-tanned skins or robes sent to market. This number varies with the different tribes, and their greater or less contact with the whites. Thus, the Cheyennes, Arapahoes, and Kiowas of the southern plains, having less contact with whites, use skins for their lodges, clothing, bedding, par-fléches, saddles, lariats, for almost everything. The number of robes sent to market represent only what we may call the foreign exchange of these tribes, and is really not more than one-tenth of the skins taken. To be well within bounds I will assume that one robe sent to market by these Indians represents six dead buffaloes. "Those bands of Sioux who live at the agencies, and whose peltries are taken to market by the Union Pacific Railroad, live in lodges of cotton cloth furnished by the Indian Bureau. They use much civilized clothing, bedding, boxes, ropes, etc. For these luxuries they must pay in robes, and as the buffalo range is far from wide, and their yearly 'crop' small, more than half of it goes to market." Leaving out of the account at this point all consideration of the killing done north of the Union Pacific Railroad, Colonel Dodge's figures are as follows: _Southern buffaloes slaughtered by southern Indians._ +-----------------------------------------------------------------+ | |Sent to |No. of dead | | Indians. |market. |buffaloes | | | |represented.| +-----------------------------------------+----------+------------+ | | | | |Kiowas, Comanches, Cheyennes, Arapahoes, | | | |and other Indians whose robes go over the| | | |Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fé Railroad | 19,000 | 114,000 | |Sioux at agencies, Union Pacific Railroad| 10,000 | 16,000 | | +----------+------------+ |Total slaughtered per annum | 29,000 | 130,000 | |Total for the three years 1872-1874 | ... | 390,000 | +-----------------------------------------------------------------+