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COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFA.RS.                 21 
and duties which rest upon them in relation to this interesting but 
unfortunate people. 
It is to be hoped that the condition and fate of the aboriginal race 
will receive more attention than they have done, and the public judg- 
ment may be enlightened and so brought to bear as to be available in 
the aid of the public authorities in their administration of our Indian 
affairs; for after the legislative power shall have been exhausted in 
the adoption of the most salutary measures, much will depend upon 
a sound public opinion to aid the authorities in their enforcement. 
By the extension of the jurisdiction of this office over the tribes in 
California, Oregon, Washington, Utah, New Mexico, and Texas, the 
negotiation of numerous treaties of acquisition with the Indians of 
the new territories, and also with the tribes on the western and north- 
western frontiers, and the increased care bestowed by the department 
upon the Indians in its charge, the business of this bureau within a 
few years past has been greatly enlarged. In the discharge of such a 
mass of business, much of it of a very important as well as complex 
character, I have been aided and sustained by the cheerful co-opera- 
tion and assiduous labors of the clerical force under my direction; 
and much credit is due the gentlemen employed in this office, when it 
is considered that nearly double the office work has been done in the 
ten months last past that was necessary in the corresponding months 
of 1853. 
Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 
GEO. W. MANYPENNY, 
Commissioner. 
lion. R. MCCEILAND, 
Secretary of the Interior. 
.Abstract or Compendium of the Annual Report of the Commissioner of 
Indian Afairs for the year 1855, prepared in obedience to a resolu- 
tion of the Senate of the United States of February 28, 1855. 
LIST OF DOCUMENTS ACCOMPANYING THE REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF 
INDIAN AFFAIRS, FOR THE YEAR 1855. 
No. 1.-Report of Marcus H. Johnson, agent for Indians in New 
York. 
No. 2.-Report of Henry C. Gilbert, agent for Indians in Michigan. 
No. 3.-Mission report of Rev. Peter Dougherty. 
No. 4.-Mission report of Right Rev. Frederic Baraga to Commis- 
sioner of Indian Affairs. 
No. 5.-Mission report of Right Rev. Frederic Baraga to Agent 
Gilbert. 
No. 6.-Mission report of Rev. A. Bingham. 
No. I.-Mission report of Rev. George N. Smith. 
NORTHERN SUPERINTENDENCY. 
No. 8.-Report of Superintendent Francis Huebschmann. 
No. 9.-Report of Benjamin Hunkins, agent for the Indians in the 
vicinity of Green Bay.