which, in many respects, is not surpassed by those of his pale-faced
brother. They have their civil chief who is responsible for the peace
and good order of the camp; and, before him, are tried, by the lawyers
of the tribe, all cases worthy of notice. If the parties are found
guilty, the offender or offenders are summarily dealt with--therefore,
"with his untutored mind," in his intercourse with white men, the
Indian is not altogether excusable in committing crime.

There are many people who believe that the Indians, as a race, have
been greatly sinned against, and to sustain their views, have called
in the assistance of flowery-written romances and the high-sounding
language of prose and poetry. Much of this novelty and interest
rubs off by coming in contact with the savage as he really exists.
Admiration often changes, in this case, into distrust and even enmity.
It is natural that this should be so, for mere book-education biases
the mind always, either for or against, and therefore, it is not
strange that in the far West, we should often meet with men who
unhesitatingly declare that the red man, if capable, is unwilling
to entertain in his character even one redeeming trait; but, on
investigating their individual case, we find that they are but
superficial observers who are prone to find fault with everything that
does not exactly suit their tastes. It is necessary to spend a whole
life with Indians, in order to judge them without prejudice. The Great
Spirit has endowed his red children with reason, the same in quality
as possessed by any other race, but their habits, mode of life and
experience is of such a kind, that, when taken, as a whole, they are
truly original. Looking upon this class of people, either in the light
of an enthusiast or as a detractor, cannot be otherwise than wrong;
for, as is usually the case, the truth lies between the extremes.