to be of use to the whites and still more to the poor Indians. They are for the most part the victims of the misdeeds of the whites. I do not hesitate to say that the depredations of the Indians are in general the result of incessant provocations and injustice on the part of the whites. When the savages raise the hatchet or go on the war-path, it is because they are pushed to the limit of endurance, and then the blows that they deal are hard, cruel and terrible. That is their nature.
Iz have a little leisure here at Sioux City and I will make use of it to send you a few words. I shall also make an effort during my long and dangerous mission to keep you informed from time to time in regard to what I see and what happens to me, whether good or bad, among the Indian tribes of the plains whom I propose to visit, if they will let me. Will they receive me among them? While all hatchets are raised against the whites, while hundreds of scalps dangle and flutter in token of triumph from the tips of their lances and are used for decorations for the warriors and their ponies? Eagle feathers are in great demand among the Indians at present and their bonnets and their horses' manes and tails are covered with them - each plume denoting a scalp taken from the enemy.
More-than ever the fearful Sassakwi, the Indian war-cry, resounds throughout the great desert. The Government asks me to go thither in the capacity of envoy extraordinary. My superiors approve my nomination, and I am on the road to endeavor to accomplish my arduous mission, which is simply one of charity, in behalf of the whites and in the interest of the Indians themselves, who are threatened with total annihilation unless they can be brought back to submission and peace. In time of war the most terrible and atrocious cruelties are practiced by the savages; all their
2 To Terwecoren, April 30, 1867; from the French.