TEXAS INDIAN PAPERS, 1846-1859
288
1st According to your commission you will act as agent for the Coushatta Indians, and if possible, proceed at once to obtain the voluntary consent of the Chiefs or head men, for the removal of the tribe. 2nd If the consent of the tribe is obtained for their removal, you will then use your best exertions to ascertain the fittest and best place for their future home, and if in order to determine this, the chiefs and head men, or a deputation of them, desire to visit the frontier and the Indian Reserves on the Brazos, at or near which it is most desirable they should be located, you will accompany them in person, leaving the balance of the tribe in the charge of some trustworthy person, who will in your ab- sence see that they receive due protection, and that their reason- able wants are provided for. The necessary expenses of travel, subsistence, ferriage etc. alike indespensible in their character, will be paid out of the appropriation made by law, on your warrant addressed to the Governor for the same. It is especially desirable that in performing the duties of Agent, you should keep in view the welfare and happiness of the Indians, to promote which, you will see at all times to the due and proper protection of life and property, and as far as practicable direct and control their intercourse with the whites. If you should not reside at their Agency, it will be im- portant that you should visit them as often as occasion should require your aid in the transaction of their business, and such other matters as may properly come wifoin the purview of the law, constituting you Guardian, Protector and Friend. It is believed, that the law does not contemplate the ex- penditure of the appropriation, or any portion of it, except for your salary, which will be allowed at the rate of 400.00 dollars per annum. and such other objects as will appertain to their removal and relocation, and should any emergency arise requir- ing •it yo·1 will communicate the same to this Office for advise thereon. Should a convenient and suitable site not be found on the unappropriated public domain, you will in no event tran- scend the appropriation in any contract you may make for the purchase of one, and and such contract must be subject to the ratification of the Governor. For further instructions, you will apply to th'is Office, when they shall be required.
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