EVEN A HASTY ANALYSIS of the figures given in the foregoing
chapter will show that at the end of the Indian era, about 1883,
there were less than 15,000 Indians in the portion of the pres-
ent state of Oklahoma lying west of the lands of the Five Civil-
ized Tribes, though the area of that portion was only slightly
less than that of Ohio. The Cheyennes and Arapahos, num-
bering a little more than 3,000, had been given a reservation
of 4,300,000 acres, or more than two square miles per capita.
The tribes occuping the two reservations under the control of
the agency for the Kiowa-Comanche and Wichita-Caddo num-
bered less than 4,000, though the total area of their lands was
over 3,500,000 acres, or approximately 1,000 acres for each
member of the tribes. Although some of the other reserva-
tions were considerably more thickly populated, fewer than
100 Tonkawas held over 90,000 acres, and in no case were the
Indians numerous enough to utilize their lands for any purpose
other than as a hunting ground or as pasturage, and not many
of them owned any livestock except for a few ponies. More-
over, the Indians were never evenly distributed over their
lands. In most cases they tended to concentrate in small set-
tlements along their favorite streams, leaving the greater part
of their vast holdings entirely unoccupied and usually un-
visited except by occasional hunters. As a rule, they were quite
primitive in their mode of life. Few of them cultivated the
soil except for some small gardens or little patches of corn.

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