Page:The Indian Dispossessed.pdf/186

 where the Russian exiles slowly drag themselves to their Siberia, are the old and infirm, the little children and consumptive girls, who give up the weary struggle and sink by the wayside, accorded the inestimable boon of Christian burial? The heart sickens at the thought that they are not. A copy of this "Journal of the March" should be presented to the Czar, that he may learn with what exquisite tenderness a more enlightened Government attends the last rites of its victims.

Further perusal of this agent's very complete report gives us a picture of the situation and outlook:

"I am of the opinion that the removal of the Poncas from the northern climate of Dakota to the southern climate of the Indian Territory, at the season of the year it was done, will prove a mistake, and that a great mortality will surely follow among the people when they shall have been here for a time and become poisoned with the malaria of the climate. Already the effects of the climate may be seen upon them in the ennui that seems to have settled upon each, and in the large number now sick.

"It is a matter of astonishment to me that the Government should have ordered the removal of the Ponca Indians from Dakota to the Indian Territory without having first made some provision for their settlement and comfort. Before their removal was carried into effect an appropriation should have been