prepossession, he denies the woman equal footing with himself; and,
though through misconception of woman's true purpose and mission in
the world, or through failing to apprehend that higher, greater, more
palpable helpfulness she brings to man (all these, because self-dictated,
self-enforced) he commits to her much of the drudgery, and imposes upon
her many of the heavy burdens, of life, the Indian is not wholly devoid
of chivalric instinct.

He is usually reticent in his manner with strangers, (but this is readily
explained by his imperfect command of English, and his reluctance to
expose his deficiency) though voluble to the last degree when he falls
in with his own people.

The Indian has been lauded and hymned by Longfellow and others as the
hunter _par excellence;_ but, to apply this to his present condition,
and look there for its truth, would be idle. The incitements to indulge
his taste for hunting are now so few, and of such slight potency, and the
opportunities for giving it play so narrowed down, and so rare, that the
pursuit of the chase has become well-nigh obsolete, and something to him
redolent only, as it were, with the breath of the past. As the Indian
is at present circumstanced and environed, he can beat up little or no
game, and his poverty frequently putting out of his reach the procuring
of the needful sporting gear, where he _does_ follow hunting, it
is pursued with much-weakened ardor, and often bootless issue. He is
moved now to its pursuit, solely with the hope of realizing a paltry
gain from the sale of the few prizes he may secure.

Though his reputation as a hunter has so mournfully declined, the Indian
is yet skilled in tracking rabbits, in the winter season, the youth,
particularly, finding this a pleasant diversion. I trust I do not invoke