had been guaranteed them in perpetuity, was invaded by the whites.
The allotment made by the Government for the transportation of these poor unhappy banished folk was quite :on-siderable, and there was abundance of provisions. Nothing was omitted from the large promises that were made them, " to manage everything for them, to make them happy and comfortable in their new home, where they would lack nothing." About 2,000 Winnebagoes submitted, forcibly, to
this agreement. Last year (1863) they were put on board steamboats, which were chartered for the conveyance of these strange figures (figures etranges) ; and set ashore on their new reservation, situated below the Big Bend of the Missouri, 1,363 miles from its mouth and about 3,000
[300?] from their old dwelling-places. What preparations had been made to receive so many wretched beings, who saw themselves forced to leave their tents, cabins, fields, gardens, mills, fishing-grounds? They were given in exchange a portion of desert, comparatively uncultivated and miserable, destitute of animals and game, and besides this, they were set down in the vicinity of the Sioux, their mortal enemies from ancient times.
When they reached this place, the planting season was already too far along for favorable results. Last winter was long and severe. These savages were put on short rations. This spring they found themselves in addition without grain or seeds. A great number of their children have already died of destitution; for the most part, they have starved to death. To-day they are to be found scattered all over, in groups of two, three or four families, hiding upon the islands or along the shores of the Missouri. I was able to approach several of them, and, to their great joy, give baptism to eighteen of their little ones. Soldiers are stationed at different points along the river, to intercept them and take them back by force upon this " reservation " of desolation, where eighty of the poor wretches have succumbed already. It is one more link attached to the long