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122               REPORT     OF AGENT IN     NEW    YORK. 
very scarce. Alt the people live in good adobe buildings, although in very
many of 
them ventilation is very, very poor. No one can tell the number of houses
there are, 
as in some parts of the town you can count as many as five houses, one over
the other. 
All these houses have been built by the Indians at their own expense. There
are no 
houses of any kind belonging to the government. 
These Indians subsist entirely upon the productions of their own labor, and
it is said 
that they keep stored up enough to subsist upon for three years. They sell
a small 
portion of what they raise, or rather dispose of the old and surplus. 
Their fishing, hunting, gathering of roots, &c., afford them no subsistence,
as 
they do very little of either. There are living on the Zuiii grant five whites,
the 
principal, his wife, and their two children, and the lady assistant teacher,
and one 
Laguna Indian, hired in the principal's yard. 
There is a small settlement of Mormons living near to Nutria and Piscado,
but I 
am unable to say whether they are on the grant or not. I think they live
very near to 
the line, but which side I do not know. I have reference to the town of Sevalla.
They hold stock, aud freight for a living. 
REV. TAYLOR F. EALY, M. D., 
United Slates Teacher. 
Hon. PUEBLO INDIAN AGENT, 
Santa _H', X. Miex. 
NEW YORK INDIAN AGENCY, 
Forestville, N. iY., October 14, 1879. 
SIR: In making my ten th annual report I have the honor to state that the
year has 
been a prosperous one for the Indians in this agency. The statistics of education
and 
farming inclosed herein show substantial and gratifying progress. 
THE ONEIDAS CITIZENS. 
The Oneidas, residing in the counties of Oneida and Madison, in the State
of New 
York, have since 1843 held their lands in severalty and in fee under the
laws of such 
State. They generally voted the first time at the annual election in November,
1878. 
.A few voted at the election in 1877, and an Oneida named Abraham Elm was
indicted 
and convicted in the United States circuit court for voting unlawfully for
member of 
Congress. A motion for a new trial was made before Hon. William J. Wallace,
cir- 
cuit judge of the northern district of New York, who set aside the verdict
and held 
that these Oneidas of New York, having abandoned their tribal relations and
become 
civilized, were citizens of the United States, having the same rights to
the elective 
franchise and otherwise as other citizens. The Oneidas generally feel proud
of their 
citizenship, and of being placed in other respects upon an equality with
white men, 
and are as well qualified to intelligently discharge the duties of the citizen
as the 
average elector. 
SCHOOLS. 
There are 1,489 Indian children of school age residing upon eight reservations
in the 
agency. Of these, 1,205. have attended school some portion of the year; 1,120
have at- 
tended one month or more. The largest number at school during any one month
was 
928, an increase over the preceding year of 59. The 31 Indian schools in
the agency 
have been taught an average period of eight months, and the average attendance
dur- 
ing that time has been 693, an increase over the preceding year of 40. These
schools 
have been maintained at an expense of $21,510, of which the Indianscontributed
$1,489; 
the Society of Friends at Philadelphia, to sustain their boarding-school
at Allegany 
Reservation, $3,000; the Episcopalians to sustain their mission school at
Onondaga Re- 
serve, $400; the State of Pennsylvania to sustain the day-school at Cornplanter
Re- 
serve, $300, and the remaining $16,365 was paid by the State of New York;
about $8,000 
of the last.named sum being to support the Thomas Orphan Asylum upon the
Catta- 
raugus Reservation. The amount paid as salaries to teachers was $7,270. Eleven
In- 
dian teachers have been employed in these schools during the year, and have
given 
good satisfaction. In fact, the schools under the charge of the Indian teachers
have 
had a larger attendance of pupils and were better supported by the Indian
parents 
than the schools taught by white teachers. Your office will not have failed
to observe 
that the reports of these schools, made by the Indian teachers, show as much
profi- 
ciency in scholarship and intelligence as like reports made by the white
teachers. 
Well-qualified w hite teachers do not like to reside upon the reservations.
Most of the 
Indian teachers were educated in high schools and were trained for their
work, with 
the aid of appropriations formerly made by the United States for the civilization
of 
Indians. For several years such appropriations have been withheld.