Governor Stevens addressed them, saying that he had important business to lay before them, and proposed to open the council the next day at noon. The Yellow Serpent replied that he wanted more than one interpreter at the council, that they might know they translated truly. Being assured on this point, and invited to designate an interpreter in whom he had confidence, he said, in a scornful manner, “I do not wish my boys running around the camp of the whites like these young men,” alluding to some young Nez Perces present and feeling quite at home. He added that he had only ridden over to-day to see the commissioners, and soon withdrew with his party.
SPOTTED EAGLE
A Chief of the Nez Perces
In the morning the commissioners and Secretary Doty visited the Lawyer at his lodge, as, his wound having broken out afresh, he was unable to walk without great pain and difficulty. He exhibited and explained a map of his country, which he had drawn at Governor Stevens’s request. During the conference several chiefs came in, and suddenly one of them, U-u-san-male-e-can or Spotted Eagle, said:—
“The Cuyuses want us to go to their camp and hold a council with them and Pu-pu-mox-mox. What are their hearts to us? Did we propose to hold a council with them, or ask them for advice? Our hearts are Nez Perce hearts, and we know them. We came here to hold a great council with the great chiefs of the Americans, and we know the straightforward path to pursue, and are alone responsible for our actions. Three Cuyuses came last night and spoke to me and two other chiefs, urging us to come to a council at the Cuyuse camp to meet Pu-pu-mox-mox and Kam-i-ah-kan. We did not wish to go. They insisted. Then I said to them, ‘You had best say no more. My mind is made up. Why do you come here and ask three chiefs to come to a council, while to the head chief and the rest you say nothing? Have we not told your messenger yesterday that our hearts are not Cuyuse hearts? Go home! Our chiefs will not go. We have our own people to take care of; they give us trouble enough, and we will not have the Cuyuse troubles on our hands.’”
The Lawyer then opened a book containing in their own language the advice left them by their former head chief, Ellis, and read as follows:—
“Whenever the great chief of the Americans shall come into your country to give you laws, accept them. A Walla Walla heart is a Walla Walla, a Cuyuse heart is a Cuyuse, so is a Yakima heart a Yakima, but a Nez Perce heart is a Nez Perce heart. While the Nez Perces are going straight, why should they turn aside to follow others? Ellis’s advice is to accept the white law. I have read it to you to show my heart.”
The speech of U-u-san-male-e-can afforded new evidence that the Cuyuses were plotting underhand, although but little could be learned as to the nature of their designs.
At two P.M., on May 29, 1855, the council was formally opened by Governor Stevens. Under the roomy arbor in front of the tent were seated the commissioners, secretaries who kept the records, interpreters, and Indian agents, while the Indians were seated on the ground in front in semicircular rows forty deep, one behind another. Timothy, the chief and preacher, concerning whom Governor Stevens said, “He and others are very devout, and seem to form a theocracy in the tribe, and, like the old New England fathers, to require every one to worship God in some visible way,”—this Timothy, assisted by several of the young men, who were very tolerable penmen, kept the records of the council for the Nez Perces. They were accommodated with a table under the arbor, where everything could be seen and heard. Some two thousand Indians were present, fully half of whom were Nez Perces. The pipe having been smoked with due solemnity, two interpreters were appointed and sworn for each tribe, some preliminary remarks were made, and the council was adjourned until ten o’clock the next morning. Before adjourning Governor Stevens renewed the offer of provisions to the recusant Indians, proposing that each tribe should take two oxen to its own camp and slaughter for themselves.