[The author of these notes, Mr. VINCENT COLYER, was sent out in
February last, with credentials from President Grant and from the
U. S. Indian Commission, to learn from actual observation the
condition and the needs of the "savages" of our Western domain.
His journies are to be extended to other territories, including
Alaska. We do not propose to give his official and routine
reports. Our readers will be interested rather in the personal
incidents and adventures, which we print from Mr. Colyer's original
and unrevised note-book and letters written on the spots described,
believing that these will furnish some new light on the immediate
problem, "Shall the Aborigines be Exterminated?"
—Editor.]
