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he settled down legally on the soil by taking a Choctaw wife, and getting himself adopted by the tribe.
McAlister, like a brave Scot, has bought and sold, scraped and saved.
From flour to whisky, everything that an Indian wants to buy, McAlister has to sell.
By adding field to field, and farm to farm, McAlister is getting nearly all the land of this Prairie into his own hands.
In time his ranch will be a town; that town will bear his name.
“These White intruders have no trouble in marrying Indian wives?”
I ask a friend in the Chickasaw nation.
“In marrying Indian wives!
You talk of marriage like a White.
Marry-ha, ha!
Not many of these fellows go to church.
An Indian's notion of marriage is the theft or purchase of a squaw.
Put down your money, and you have your pick of his lodge, without the blessing of a parson or the signature of a clerk.
For twenty dollars you can buy a girl, and claim, through her, adoption by the tribe.”
“Is the adoption easy?”
“Very easy.
As a rule, the adoption goes with the Indian girl.
If any Bad face makes a row, a ”
1875.
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