ions of
1867-68, however, convinced the Sioux of the hopelessness of opposing
the progress of the railroad, and the settlement of the immediate belt
through which it was to pass, and disposed them to accept the provision
made for them by the treaty of 1868. With the exception of the main
portion of the Ogallala band, at the Red Cloud agency, and a
considerable body of disaffected Indians from all the bands, known as
the "hostile Sioux," of whom "Sitting Bull" and "Black Moon" are the
principal chiefs, these bands are all within the limits of the
reservation set apart by said treaty of 1868. A few at each of the
agencies on the Missouri River have shown a disposition to engage in
agriculture; but by far the greater part of them remain "breech-clout"
Indians, disinclined to labor for a living, and accepting subsistence
from the government as the natural and proper consideration for the
favor done the government by their consenting to remain at the agencies
assigned them. If they have any suspicion that this thing cannot last
forever, and that the time will soon come for them to work or starve,
the great majority do not allow themselves to be influenced by it, but
seem determined to put the evil day as far off as possible.

_Poncas._--The Poncas, numbering 735, have a reservation of 576,000
acres, near the confluence of the Niobrara and Missouri Rivers, in the
south-eastern part of the Territory, provided for them in their treaty
with the United States, made in 1858. They are quiet and peaceable, are
inclined to be industrious, and engage to some extent in farming; but
from various causes, principally the destruction of their crops by
grasshoppers, have not succeeded in supporting themselves without
assistance from the government. They are well advanced in civilized
habits of life, and have shown considerable interest in the education of
their children, having three schools in operation, with an average
attendance of seventy-seven scholars.

_Arickarees, Gros Ventres, and Mandans._--These tribes number 2,200, and
have a reservation set apart for their occupancy by executive order of
April 12, 1870, comprising 8,640,000 acres, situated in the
north-western part of Dakota and the eastern part of Montana, extending
to the Yellowstone and Powder Rivers. They have no treaty with the
government, are now and have always been friendly to the whites, are
exceptionally known to the officers of the army and to frontiersmen as
"good