and rest to resuscitate them.  In the comfortable house to which they had come, these things were at hand, and were freely given, without hoping for the rewards which man can give.  The pursuers of these unfortunate Indian women followed on their trail, which, with native instinct, the squaws had made as indistinct as possible, until they found themselves at a Mexican settlement, within the boundaries of New Mexico.  Here they were informed that their late captives were safe under the protection of Kit Carson.  This name acted like magic in settling their future mode of proceedings.  They needed nothing more to bid them face about and retrace their steps to their own homes.  The squaws, in the household of Kit Carson, rapidly recruited, and when the time came for them to be sent to their own tribe, they went away rejoicing at their good fortune; first in making their escape, and second, because they had been so humanely treated by a man whose name they had often heard, but never before seen.  As we have said before and with truth, this is but one example out of thousands which have passed by unheralded since Kit Carson first commenced his official career as Indian agent.

The duties of an agent are not by Kit Carson confined to the mere letter of the law.  His is a heart that could not be happy were he not daily doing some equitable and humane act to ameliorate the condition of the Indian race.  The strict duties of an Indian agent require that he should receive and disburse certain sums of money in purchasing such minor articles as the tribes over which he is placed may require.  He has to give monthly and quarterly reports to the General Government and the superintendent of the Territory he is in, of the condition, crimes, practices, habits, intentions, health, and such other things as pertain to the economy of his charge.  How seldom is this knowledge properly attained and how often are these things intrusted to clerks while the principal receives the emoluments of his office!  Of the details which make the Indian happy or miserable, he, too frequently, knows but little about, except from routine.  The agent, if he be a fit man, and the Indian is by no means slow in forming his estimate of the person he has to deal with, is received into the confidence of the tribes, when, after sufficient trial, he has been proved worthy of their esteem and friendship.  When once he has gained a foothold in the affections of the savages, his task assumes the condition of pleasure rather than severe labor; but, if he is ignorant of the minute workings of his business, he is generally imposed upon and always disliked to such a degree that no honorable man would retain such a position longer than to find out his unpopularity and the causes of it.  The Indian agent, to perform his duties well, must be continually at his agency house, or among the Indians, in order that he may personally attend to their wants and protect them from the mercenary visits and contact of outside intruders, who are continually watching their opportunity, like hungry wolves, to prey upon and cheat them in every shape and form.  In fine, he is to assist the superintendent in managing the entire Indian family. .