in the defiles or valleys of the mountains, like the Celts of Scotland and the Araucanians of Chile? Then Oregon would enter the category of all the Spanish States of South America, in which the red men, far from being exterminated, have, on the contrary, made efforts to assimilate themselves to the whites.
Reply.- I answer to this last question, that in case the missionaries should collect the half-breeds with the most docile Indians, in districts or counties, under this territorial law of Oregon, and give the youth an education, both religious and agricultural, the result would be a greater mingling of Indian and white blood, and thus the future population of Oregon would be in some manner heterogeneous.
The future prospect of the Indian tribes is very dark and melancholy. Placed, as they are, under the jurisdiction of the United States, surrounded on every side by whites, their ruin appears certain. These savages disappear insensibly as the emigrations of the whites succeed each other and advance. In fifty years there will be few traces of the native races in the western portion of this hemisphere. Where are those powerful tribes which, at the commencement of this age, dwelt in the extensive and beautiful region, now divided among the States of the West? Remnants only exist on our western frontiers. In our own day the same causes are in full play, and produce the same effects. And for the last four years, the great tide of European emigration but makes the effect more certain. These emigrations multiply more and more in the present day, and succeed like the waves of ocean. They must find room; that room is the West.
Such are the responses which I gave in 1851 to M. D-. In the space of three years, what was simply an opinion has become a fact. My answer to the second question has been literally verified.
In the course of this year, 1854, treaties were concluded with the Omahas, the Otoes and Missouris, the Sauks, the Foxes of Missouri, the Iowas, the Kickapoos, the Shawnees