Another privilege that the Indian enjoys, and which was granted to him by
enactment subsequent to that which assured to him his Reserve, is that
of transit at half-fare grates on the different railroads. This is a
right which he neither despises, nor, in any way, affects to despise,
since it meets, and is suited to, his common condition of slender and
straitened means. The moderate charge permits him to avail frequently
of the privilege at seasons (which comprehend, in truth, the greater
portion of the year) when the roads are almost unfit for travel, the
Indian, as a rule, going in for economy in locomotive exercise (so my
judgment decrees, though it has been claimed for him that, at an earlier
period of his history, walking was congenial to him) hailing and adopting
gladly the medium which obviates recourse to it.




HIS MEETINGS OF COUNCIL.


The Indian Council has a province more important than that which our
Municipal Councils exercise. Its decisions as to disputes growing out
of real estate transactions, unless clearly wrong, have in them the
force of law.

The ordinary Council is a somewhat informal gathering as regards a
presiding officer or officers, and, also, in respect of that essential
feature of a quorum, for which similar bodies among ourselves hold out
so exactingly. The Chiefs of the tribes, who, alone, are privileged to
participate in discussions, can scarcely be looked upon in the light of
presidents of the meeting; nor can there be discovered in the privileges