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containing the original petitions, communications and remon­strances from the Indians, and from their agents, contain most important and indispensable information. The remaining phases of the project, that of compiling and reducing the bulk of material to a usable medium, appear from this point in the first phase, to be a task of considerable labor, increased proportionately, if finished by one unfamiliar with the detail and understanding gained in gathering the material. The project may be likened to that of building a vessel: the materials need to be located and assembled from many varied, and unrelated sources; the sorting, fitting, and co-ordinating; and then the final building of the ship itself.