Lawrence Kip

“ It had been inflicted in a fight with their old hereditary enemies, the Blackfeet Indians. These are the most dangerous banditti among all the tribes,—perfect Ishmaelites—who, while they are at war with all the neighboring savages, have nourished the most implacable hatred to the whites, since they first met them in the days of Lewis and Clarke. War is their employment, and the booty they gain by it, their support. They are admirable horsemen and as much distinguished for their treachery as for their headlong courage. ”

“ Sometimes because our hearts are bad, and sometimes because we have bad counsel. Your people have sometimes done wrong. Our hearts have cried. Our hearts still cry. But if you will try to do right, we will try to forget it. How long will you listen to this bad counsel and refuse to receive the light?
"I, too, like the ground where I was born. I left it because it was for my good. I have come a long way. We ask you to go but a short distance. We do not come to steal your land. We pay you more than it is worth. There is the Umatilla Valley that affords a little good land. ”

“ The Great Spirit directs me, Feed the Indians well. The grass says the same thing, Feed the horses and cattle. The ground, water and grass say, The Great Spirit has given us our names. We have these names and hold these names. Neither the Indians nor the Whites have a right to change these names. The ground says, The Great Spirit has placed me here to produce all that grows on me, trees and fruit. The same way the ground says, It was from me man was made. The Great Spirit, in placing men on the earth, desired them to take good care of the ground and to do each other no harm. ”

“ There is an odd mixture of this world and the next in some of the Nez Percés,—an equal love for fighting and devotion—the wildest Indian traits with a strictness in some religious rites which might shame those "who profess and call themselves Christians." They have prayers in their lodges every morning and evening—service several times on Sunday—and nothing will induce them on that day to engage in any trading. ”

“ Every thing but the perils of war and the chase are beneath their attention. When at home and not occupied in preparing their arms, or in feats of horsemanship, they are gambling, lounging in groups on the mounds of the prairie, or listening to some story-teller, who recounts the exploits of the old warriors of the tribe.
The Walla-Wallas, another of the principal tribes present, is one much reduced in numbers and in importance since the pioneer trappers first came among them. ”

“ I think he has given his land. That is what I think from his words. I request another meeting. It is not in one meeting only that we can come to a decision. If you come again with a friendly message from our Great Father, I shall see you again at this place. To-morrow I shall see you again, and to-morrow evening I shall go home. This is all I have to say."
General Palmer. "I want to say a few words to these people. But before I do so, if Camiaken wants to speak, I will be glad to hear him." ”

“ After Governor Stevens' address, the old Chief, Lawyer, spoke, which was the first time anything had been heard from the Nez Percés. Several of the other Chiefs followed, and the Council finally adjourned at five o'clock, without having yet made any sensible progress. The maxim, that "time is money," which prevails so extensively among the Anglo-Saxons, has not yet penetrated into the wilderness to be received as a motive in any way influencing the conduct. With the Indians, "the next moon" will answer just as well as this month, for any business that is to be transacted. ”

“ During this time we were enlivened by a visit from Governor Stevens, the Governor of Washington Territory. He was on his way to the interior of the Indian country—to Walla-Walla—in connection with the Indian Commissioners, to hold a Grand Council, to which he had summoned the tribes far and near. For some time they have been restless, numerous murders of emigrants crossing the plains, have occurred, and it is deemed necessary by the Government to remove some of the tribes to Reservations which have been selected for them. ”

“ Ten miles distant is seen the range of the Blue Mountains, forming the southeast boundary of the great plains along the Columbia, whose waters it divides from those of Lewis river. It stretches away along the horizon until it is lost in the dim distance, where the chain unites with the Snake River Mountains.
Here we found General Palmer, the Indian Agent, and Governor Stevens, with their party, who had already pitched their tents. With the latter we dined. As was proper for the highest dignitary on the ground, he had a dining room separate from his tent. ”

“ About ten o'clock we came upon a party of ten soldiers of the 4th Infantry, who were encamped by the river. They had been sent out from the Dalles a week before, under the command of a corporal, in pursuit of some Indian murderers, in finding whom, however, they had been successful. As Lieutenant Gracie had been directed, in event of meeting them, to add them to his command, their camp was broken up and they marched on with us, making the number of soldiers forty-seven. Towards evening our guide announced that we were but a few miles from the valley which was the residence of the Cayuse tribe. ”

“ The Council did not adjourn till six o'clock. In the evening I rode over as usual to the Nez Percé camp and found many of them playing cards in their lodges. They are most inveterate gamblers, and a warrior will sometimes stake on successive games, his arms, and horses, and even his wives, so that in a single night he is reduced to a state of primitive poverty and obliged to trust to charity to be remounted for the hunt. ”

“ Living as they do on horseback, racing forms one of their greatest amusements. They will ride for miles, often having heavy bets depending on the result. On this occasion we saw nearly thirty Indians start at once and dash over the plain like the winds, sweeping round in a circle of several miles.
Friday, June 1st.—The Council did not meet this morning, as the Indians wished time to consider the proposal made to them during the last few days. ”

“ While they are the most friendly to the whites of any tribe in this region, they are at the same time one of the most numerous and powerful, roaming over the whole Rocky Mountains, along the streams to the West, and across the almost limitless plains to the East, until they reach the hunting grounds of the tribes of the Missouri. They hunt the elk, the white bear, the mountain sheep and the buffalo, while they trap the beaver to sell the skins to the whites. ”

“ In the mean while, it is supposed that the Commissioners will bring some cogent arguments to bear upon Looking Glass and induce him to accede to the treaty.
Near the race ground this evening we found the women collected in circles on the ground, gambling with the most intense earnestness. Like the men they will spend hours around the lodge fires, staking every thing they have on the changes and chances of the game. Near them stood, as on the last evening, the returned warriors, exhibiting their fantastic bravery, and apparently thus challenging the applause of the softer sex. ”

“ The officers' quarters are on the top of a hill, and the barracks for the men some distance further down, as if the officers intended to get as far from them as possible. There is a want of compactness, and as there is no stockade—nothing in the shape of a fortification—in case of an outbreak by any hostile tribe of Indians, the post might easily be surprised. At this time, two Companies of the 4th Infantry were stationed there under the command of Major Rains. ”

“ To capture horses is esteemed next in honor to laurels gained in actual war, and they will follow the party of a hostile tribe for weeks, watching an opportunity to "run off" their horses. It is for this, too, that they are hovering around the emigrants on the plains, who some times by a stampede, or a single bold dash, lose in a night all their animals, and are left helpless on the plains, as a ship at sea without sails. ”

“ After he had finished, Stechus, an old Cayuse Chief, made a short speech, and then Governor Stevens adjourned them until to-morrow.
There is evidently a more hostile feeling towards the whites getting up among some of the tribes, of which we had to-night a very unmistakable proof. The Cayuses, we have known, have never been friendly, but hitherto they have disguised their feelings. To-night, as Lieutenant Gracie and I attempted, as usual, to enter their camp, they showed a decided opposition: we were motioned back, and the young warriors threw themselves in our way to obstruct our advance. ”

“ After Lieutenant Gracie had finished inspection and we had taken our usual bath in the river, we rode over to General Palmer's encampment to enquire after his health. We found him still too unwell to travel. The rest of the day was spent in reading, for we have found a small supply of books at Mr. McKay's, which have proven quite a treasure in the wilderness.
Monday, June 18th.—Lieutenant Gracie has commenced practising the men at skirmish drill for an hour a day, and is thus preparing them for their Snake country expedition. ”

“ About noon we struck the Columbia River, whose solitary banks were quite enlivened by the long trains of wagons containing the provisions of the detachment. We counted twenty-four, half of which were on one side of the river and half on the other. The different detachments and wagons will all meet at the camping ground on the Umatilla where we left Lieutenant Gracie. There will be about one hundred and fifty mounted men besides the packers and wagoners. After resting for a couple of hours on the Columbia, we set out for the Dalles, where we arrived at five o'clock. ”

“ He thus described the manner in which the tribes at the East receded at the approach of the whites:
"The red men traveled away farther, and from that time they kept traveling away farther, as the white people came up with them. And this man's people," (pointing to a Delaware Indian, who was one of the interpreters,) "are from that people. They have come on from the Great Lake where the sun rises, until they are near to us now, at the setting sun. ”

“ Some of the friendly Indians afterwards disclosed to the traders, that during the whole meeting of the Council, active negotiations were on foot to cut off the whites. This plot originated with the Cayuses, in their indignation at the prospect of being deprived of their lands. Their programme was, first to massacre the escort, which could easily have been done. Fifty soldiers against three thousand Indian warriors, out on the open plain, made rather too great odds. ”

“ We still notice, too, the difference which the early explorers observed, between these Indians and those of the plains. The latter, living on horseback, are finely developed, and look like warriors; the former, engaged only in their canoes or stooping over the banks, are low in stature and seem to have been dwarfed out of all manhood. In everything noble they are many degrees below the wild tribes on the plains. ”

“ Lieutenant Gracie, therefore, sent on the soldiers under command of a sergeant to find a camping place for the night, while we, under the guidance of Mr. Cut-mouth John, struck across the country to visit his countrymen. We found their lodges in a beautiful, well-watered valley, which I am not surprised they are unwilling to give up. They are, however, much diminished in numbers, and did not seem to amount to more than two hundred. ”

“ Saturday, June 2d.—Just before I was up this morning we had a call from some of the Indians, who pay little regard to visiting hours. After breakfast I rode over to see the gentlemen at the old Mission, and on my return to camp found that the Council was already assembled, having met at twelve o'clock. The Indian Chiefs had at length begun to reply, so that another step has been gained. After Governor Stevens' opening speech, several of them followed in short addresses. ”

“ They possessed an influence over the Indians which was wonderful and which the perfect system of their operations enabled them for years to maintain. But the transfer of the country to the Americans and the progress of civilization around them, driving off the Indians and beaver, have forced them to remove much of their business to other posts. ”

“ Thursday, June 14th.—The place where we now are is an old camping ground, well known to all the Western hunters, being a central spot where several trails diverge. The emigrant trail passes by it, and stretches thence over the Blue Mountains, leading to Fort Boisé. Here Lieutenant Gracie has orders to remain until the arrival of the rest of the Command, which starts from the Dalles on the twentieth, to enter the Snake country. ”

“ The command was mounted, some fifteen pack mules added to carry the camp equipage, and about noon, May 18th, we bid farewell to the officers and rode away from the Dalles. Our course during the afternoon was through the Des Chutes Valley, an admirable country for grazing, as the temperature is such that cattle can be kept out for the whole year and always find subsistence. It was formerly the place where the Hudson Bay Company raised all the best horses they used. ”