More from Mr. Ten Kate

                “The arrival in Caddo of a circus, whose director was a “colonel”, provided me a suitable opportunity to make studies in physiognomy among the numerous Choctaws of both sexes and every age, who had streamed in from every direction to attend the performances. Here I got an idea of what the government reports sometimes mean by “Indians”. Of the Choctaws present, who number several hundreds, by far the largest number were half-breeds without uniformity of type, including some who had a kind of dark drab, chestnut brown hair and a pale tint. In addition, where were numerous Negroes- former slaves of the Choctaws- and occasional zambos. The rest might be regarded as Indians, but not all as full-bloods. To judge from a superficial observation, there are two, perhaps three types among them, one of which has a straight, rather short nose, the other a crooked nose and falls somewhere between the “redskin type” and the Semitic physiognomy. The third type has some Mongolian features. Most of these Indians are of medium stature but of powerful build. In this respect the women differ little form the men. Some of the women were smoking brown clay pipes or chewing tobacco. This latter custom they have probably taken on with American civilization because I have never encountered tobacco chewing among the non-civilized tribes.

The enjoyment of the worthy Choctaws was dampened somewhat that evening because the circus’s “doctor”, who gave hypnotic performances, was suddenly indisposed. Gulping down the contents of a little bottle of “painkiller”, the horrid quack remedy, which he was able promptly to procure from a store, did not alleviate the aching in his lower body. So, as the sole person who could provide assistance, I got the moaning “doc” on my account. To the satisfaction of his boss, the “colonel”, however, I brought my “colleague” back, to the extent that late that night he could leave again. The “doc” was the last patient I had to treat in the West.

With the circus the Indians vanished too, and Caddo returned to its accustomed calm. Because I, for my part, had seen enough of the Choctaw nations, on the afternoon of November 13^th, at 2o’clock, I boarded the train to Muskogee, the capital of the Creek reservation."