Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 8.djvu/367

RECOLLECTIONS OF AN INDIAN AGENT. 359 a wagon. * * I see, I see, ' ' said father, * * your request seems to be reasonable and here are three dollars for our three wagons. ' ' A Mr. Collins, late a professor in a Kentucky college, said, "Dr. Davenport, you pay one dollar for me and I will hand it to you this evening at camp." When all had paid, the Indians arose and one of them, the chief, came forward, ad- dressed my father as Doctor Davenport, and began to con- verse with him in faultless English. We learned afterwards that he had attended an American college. He wished to know which were our wagons, and after they were pointed out, he said, ' ' Doctor, your buggy ought not to be called more than half a wagon, ' ' and addressing a word or two in his own language to the collector, the latter handed father half a dollar. Turning to Mr. Cranston, who was ill at ease, from the adverse outcome of his oratory, the chief asked, "How many fighting men have you, Captain?" Mr. Cranston no doubt felt that the question was rather on the sarcastic order .and remained silent. Likely, there would have been no danger in refusing to contribute, but the incident is valuable in showing how easily conflicts arise between people having different ideas, customs and laws. Mr. Cranston, though in this instance sadly indiscreet, was a well-informed man and knew that the Otoes claimed the country we were travelling over and that the general government had not purchased their claim, but ensconced in the egotism common to a large part of the American people, he had dismissed the Indian notion of tribal ownership as childish and the practice of the govern- ment in treating with them and purchasing the land claimed l>y them, as worse than foolish, for it confirmed them in the absurd opinion that they really owned the land they had been in the habit of roaming over. Still, as a matter of natural justice, and in every aspect of the case, the Otoes had the best of the argument. They were natives to the soil, their an- cestors for untold generations had occupied and possessed it, there was no allegation of conflicting claims, and so their title was good by every condition precedent, ever urged by any civilized nation. At that time the government maintained