“The time the whites first passed through this country, although the people of this country were blind, it was their heart to be friendly to them. Although they did not know what the white people said to them, they answered Yes, as if they were blind. They traveled about with the white people as if they had been lost.
“I have been talked to by the French [Hudson Bay Company men] and by the Americans, and one says to me go this way, and the other says go another way, and that is the reason I am lost between them.
“A long time ago they hung my brother for no offense, and this I say to my brother here, that he may think of it. Afterwards came Spalding and Whitman. They advised us well, and taught us well,—very well. It was from the same source,—the light [the east]. They had pity on us, and we were pitied, and Spalding sent my father to the east,—the States,—and he went. His body has never returned. He was sent to learn good counsel, and friendship and many things. This is another thing to think of. At the time, in this place here, when there was blood spilled on the ground, we were friends to the whites and they to us. At that time they found it out that we were friends to them. My chief, my own chief, said, ‘I will try to settle all the bad matters with the whites,’ and he started to look for counsel to straighten up matters, and there his body lies beyond here. He has never returned.
“At the time the Indians held a grand council at Fort Laramie, I was with the Flatheads, and I heard there would be a grand council this side next year. We were asked to go and find counsel, friendship, and good advice. Many of my people started, and died in the country,—died hunting what was right. There were a good many started; on Green River the smallpox killed all but one. They were going to find good counsel in the east, and here am I looking still for counsel, and to be taught what is best to be done.
“And now look at my people’s bodies scattered everywhere, hunting for knowledge,—hunting for some one to teach them to go straight. And now I show it to you, and I want you to think of it. I am of a poor people. A preacher came to us, Mr. Spalding. He talked to us to learn, and from that he turned to be a trader, as though there were two in one, one a preacher and the other a trader. He made a farm and raised grain and bought our stock, as though there were two in one, one a preacher, the other a trader. And now one from the east has spoken, and I have heard it, and I do not wish another preacher to come, and be both trader and preacher in one. A piece of ground for a preacher big enough for his own use is all that is necessary for him.
“Look at that; it is the tale I had to tell you, and now I am going to hunt friendship and good advice. We will come straight here,—slowly perhaps, but we will come straight.”
The next two days Governor Stevens continued, explaining the treaties still further. A large map was brought forth, and the boundaries of the reservations accurately marked out and shown. The Indians took great interest in this map, asking many questions about the mountains and streams they saw represented upon it, and in some instances adding streams which were not laid down.
Superintendent Palmer spoke for some time, going over the same ground as Governor Stevens. After he had concluded, Steachus, the friendly Cuyuse, arose and said:—
“My friends, I wish to show you my heart. If your mother were in this country, gave you birth and suckled you, and, while you were suckling, some person came and took away your mother and left you alone and sold your mother, how would you feel then? This is our mother,—this country,—as if we drew our living from her. My friends, all of this you have taken. Had I two rivers, I would leave the one, and be content to live on the other. I name the place for myself, the Grande Ronde, the Touchet towards the mountains, and the Tucañon.”
Thus even Steachus, the most friendly of the Cuyuses, was the first to express his dissatisfaction with a treaty which left him none of his own country, and to request a reservation within its borders. The Indians were slow to speak; they required time to make up their minds, and the council was therefore adjourned.