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reservations, and impracticability of securing
either civil or military protection to the
Indians, have rendered negatory all the
efforts of the Department to meliorate their
condition. In 1849 it was estimated that
they numbered not less than 100,000 souls;
their present number does not probably exceed
30,000, showing a very rapid decline. In five
years from this date, owing to increase of
disease and want of food, it is probable there
will not be 10,000 left within the entire
limits of the State.

I do not deem it necessary, in
a casual report of this kind to go into a
detail of the condition of each tribe, or
to refer specifically to any particular locality.
The conclusion forced upon my mind is,
that the sums now appropriated by Congress
are insufficient to effect any beneficial
object in California; and that larger appro
priations would be equally useless under
the present system. The Indians must
be entirely isolated from the white settlements
or nothing can be done with them. All
attempts to carry on reservations, claimed in
whole or in part by citizens of the state, have
hitherto proved unavailing, and there is no
reason to hope for a better state of things
in the future.