* % ,
T be Conservative *
The govern
THE INDIANS
AT OMAHA. ment's exhibit of
Indians , perhaps
the only really unique display nt Hie
Trans-Mississippi Exposition , becomes
more interesting ns its end approaches.
Only a little more than n month of it
remains , and one who fails to examine
it will have missed a chance that will
not come to him again. There will
always bo expositions , and there will
always be machinery , pictures , fabrics ,
food-products and foreign wares to
amuse and instruct us , but there will
not always bo Indians. To watch those
dark-skinned but very human people ,
and think that natural law is working
sure extermination upon them , is a cur
ious sensation. There is one tribe repre
sented whose end is almost in sight ;
there are only twelve men of them liv
ing ; fifty-seven persons in all speak their
language ; they can communicate with
other Indians only by signs , or in Eng
lish.
lish.There
There are now twenty-five tribes rep
resented on the grounds , and the num
ber of men , women
WHO THEY ARE.
ohildron is
between six and seven hundred. There
are Indians from nearly all of the im
portant tribes west of the Mississippi.
The Crows , Blackfeet and Flatheads are
still there , and the Sioux village entire ;
the Ohippewos and some others have
gone home ; but a large delegation from
the Southwest , including Apaches and
Pueblos , have lately arrived , and more
than fill their place.
The large open space that was at first
left immediately inside the gate is now
occupied. A lodge of the Kiowas is the
first tiling in sight , standing rather iso
lated. The Kiowas would seem to be
shy ; they have further shut themselves
in with a high wall , or windbreak , of
boughs , once leafy , but now hardly
sheltering their privacy. They have fur
ther works in progress , however ; here is
a muscular squaw toiling all by herself
at the erection of some kind of a scaffold ,
which is to begin with posts set in the
ground. She has no post-auger , but
needs none ; she lias sharpened her
stakes with her axe , and is forcing them
into the ground by the strength of her
arms ; when in position , they are so
firmly fixed as not easily to be shaken.
Next on the right is a Wichita com
munity. The house they are building ,
in the corner of the grounds , is like no
other in the collection. It is a perma
nent structure , apparently , and reminds
one somewhat of King Opechancanough's
palace , in Captain John Smith's history ;
it is built of heavy poles , thatched from
the ground up with reeds and grass
nearly a foot in thickness , bound in pos
ition with other encircling poles ; on
these the bare-footed squaws stand as
they carry the covering higher and
higher , directed from below by a stem
chief , whoso hair , bound with flannel
into two red ropes , hangs far down upon
his breast. The hut will have , when
finished , a height of eighteen feet or so
with a diameter of at least twenty-live ,
and will bo rounded gracefully from
base to apex.
Next came the Apaches. These seem
to be an exclusive lot of Indians. They
live in wall-tents
UKROMMO.
of the rogulnr
irmy kind , which are enclosed by a ropev
barrier and seem always to bo kept care-
ully shut. In the midst of the tents is
i , lofty red-and-whito canopy , over a
ward floor , and there , in a chair in the
hade , sits Geronimo , with the women
and young men sitting about his feet ,
ike the angels around Heine when he
dreamed he was the Lord God , and the
ittlo brown babies crawling over every-
jody's knees. It is a picture that will
stay by one , in spite of the incongruity
of the surroundings. Geronimo is not
the first in rank in the delegation ; he is
only a headman , and his chief is present ,
an inconspicuous Apache ; but Geronimo
s a prisoner of war of the United States
government. He has killed more of us
with his own hands than Cervera did
with lu's whole fleet , and that is why we
iovo him. Whenever ho appears in the
procession the beholders cheer him
wildly , just as they would have done
Corvera if they could have got at him.
Cervera was kindly protected from the
applauding public , and finally escaped
to Spain ; Geronimo can only retire be
hind his rope and sit under his canopy ;
but there he is sufficiently inaccessible.
Presently , however , he comes forth to
lead his white horse to water , and can
then be met and observed. He marches
firmly , in high boots ; there is nothing
Indian in his costume , unless it be his
old hat ; ho looks you in the face , and
you like him at once for a gentle old
man. His dark face is deeply seamed ,
but quiet and kindly ; he has been a pris
oner of war for a great many years.
The whole encampment , while not
nominally prisoners , are under strict
control. It comes
REGULATIONS. , , , i
> Vllll cl oIlUL/Jv lJ
many a sympathetic visitor , that among
all the thousands that are tramping the
Springfield gravel to smithereens , the
Indians are the only ones who may not
step around on the Midway and miti
gate the dryness of the season by drink
ing some beer. Though they cannot
pass the officer at the gate without a
special permit , they practically come
and go at will ; but woe to the man who
would give them fire-water ! This is
forbidden as far as the laws of the
United States extend ; an alarming pre
cedent , one might think ; but these are
the nation's wards , and our law-makers
show no signs of wishing to extend the
prohibition over any other of the savage
nationalities that wo have among us.
This gathering , while to the visitor
it is only a part of the show , is right
fully called an
THE PIPE OF PEACE . T i" ft
iniiau Congress.
It is quite conceivable that it may bo a I
very serious event to the red men them
selves , not only from the stories they
will have to tell when they got. back to
their people , but also from the friendly
relations into which it has brought them
with Indians of other tribes , who have
been 1 : , generally speaking , after their
scalps from time immemorial. This
consideration may very likely have had
weight with the Department , when it
was brought to favor the scheme.
The ] amicable footing upon which all
the Indians stand toward one another ,
and the pains which they take to wet-
come now arrivals , have already been
c described in THE CONSERVATIVE. It ap
pears j that there is really a concerted
i movement among the chiefs and head
men to bring about an era of good feei
i ng among the various tribes , and in
< ihis way the gathering amounts to n
( Congress indeed , and one which may
i mark an epoch in Indian history.
An instance of this is a banquet which
i was lately given by the Crows to the
two i chief men of each tribe on the
grounds. j The Crows made largo pre
parations ] , and it was a mighty feast.
In : addition to the resources of their own
ookery , they sent out and bought pie ,
and i all the delicacies that the Midway's
market : afforded : cream puffs , no doubt ,
peanuts ] and pop-corn and Turkish
candy. Then when the guests were
met , the feast was set , and along with
the eating there was a brilliant program
of oratory. It is said that there were
regular toasts and set speeches , and that
all the burden of the talk was that it
was very good for them all to be there
and on such good terms one with
another.
One who wishes to observe the Indians
seriously should go by himself. This is
because two Amer-
QO ALONE.
be together but they must begin scoffing.
It is easy to ridicule the ways of these
natives , but it is easy also to bo im
pressed. The old settlers will tell you
that they saw enough of the Indians in
former days , and have no wish to see
more ; but they might find these differ
ent from the Otoes and Pottawattomies
of thirty years ago. One cannot but
wonder whether these are fairly repre-
tativo men in their several tribes , or if
they are not rather selected for manly
beauty. Watch them for a while , and
then watch the white Americans who
stroll past , and you will not find the
average advantage , in stature , carriage
nor apparent vigor , on the part of the
white man. This notwithstanding that
the best white type is infinitely more
admirable than the best of the red. The
noblest looking man that the writer
has seen in a long time was a colossal
white-bearded farmer from Missouri ,
who was enjoying the fair in the com
pany of his little old wife. But there
are faces and figures here and there
among the Indians which fix themselves
in your mind so that it hardly seems as