About seventy women were seen among the warriors, for their presence is necessary when the tribe is to be encamped for any length of time. They perform all the menial offices, arranging the lodge, cooking and bringing wood, for it would be a disgrace to their lords to be seen engaged in these things. It would procure for them the title of squaws. 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. They range through the valley for thirty miles, to old Fort Walla-Walla, once a central trading post of the Hudson Bay Company, on the left bank of the Columbia river near where the Walla-Walla empties into it.
In the afternoon I visited the lodge of an old chief of the Nez Percés, named Lawyer. He showed us a wound in his side from which he was yet suffering, although several years had elapsed since it was received. 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. Their hunting grounds extend from the Yellow Stone and Missouri rivers to the Rocky Mountains. He showed us also some locks of their hair which he wore about him,—not as love tokens, or presented willingly by the former owners, but rather the reverse, as I presume they are the remains of scalps he had taken.
To-day Governor Stevens and Mr. Doty, one of his party, dined with us. It was the first dinner party we had given in the wilderness. Yet think not, O ye who dine your friends at Delmonico's, that our entertainment was at all like yours! In the centre of our tent, a buffalo robe was laid on the ground (the luxury of a table being confined to the Governor), on which were placed the tin plates which were our only dishes, for china is not adapted to mule traveling on the plains. About this we reclined rather in the Oriental style. At one end of the table (I mean the buffalo skin) was a beef steak from one of the cattle daily killed at the camp, and at the other end a portion of the same unfortunate animal's liver. One side-dish was a plate of potatoes—the other, a plate of bread of leaden heaviness. The second course was—coffee, likewise served in tin cups. Yet we gathered around this feast with appetites which could not be found among the strollers in Broadway, and which it required no French sauces to provoke.
Friday, May 25th.—We woke this morning to hear the rain pattering about us, and to be thankful that we were encamped, and not obliged to resume our march. At noon it cleared up, when we procured our horses and rode over to the Indian camp to pay another visit to our friend Lawyer. We found the old chief surrounded by his family and reading a portion of the New Testament, while a German soldier of Governor Stevens' party, was engaged taking his portrait in crayon. He afterwards presented me with a copy, which I keep as a memento of these pleasant days in the wilderness.
In the evening he came to our tent to return our visit. We feasted him to the best of our ability, not omitting the indispensable pipe, and he seemed exceedingly gratified with his entertainment. A discussion had taken place sometime before, as to the hospitality of the Indians, and Lieutenant Gracie determined on this occasion to test the question: so, when the old chief's heart seemed to be warmed up with our good cheer, he enquired, "Whether Lawyer would be glad to see him if he came to his country to make a short visit?" To this rather direct hint no reply was for some time given, and the old man evidently endeavored to change the subject. At last, finding it pressed upon him, he said—"That Mr. Craig," (an American,) "had a very good house not far from his lodge." The nearest to an invitation that he would give, was to answer in reply to Lieutenant Gracie's question, "Perhaps so."
Saturday, May 26th.—I spent the morning on horseback exploring the country. In the course of my ride I met an Indian boy with a prairie chicken he had just killed, and which he was delighted to exchange for an old silk handkerchief. There are three peculiarities for which this region of country has been remarked,—its gorgeous sunsets,—the rapidity with which the water in its streams rises and falls,—and the contrast between its hot days and cold nights.
Towards evening the Cayuse tribe arrived, numbering about three hundred. They came in whooping and singing in the Indian fashion, and after riding round the camp of the Nez Percés two or three times, they retired to form their own at some little distance. In a short time some of the principal chiefs paid their respects to Governor Stevens and then came down to look at our camp. It was not, as we had reason to believe afterwards, a friendly visit, but rather a reconnaissance to learn our numbers and estimate our powers of resistance. In the evening I again visited Lawyer and also a number of his tribe. Some of them we found singing sacred music to prepare for to-morrow, which is Sunday.
Sunday, May 27th.—The rain this morning when we woke, was not pattering upon our tent, but fairly splashing around it, so that we were contented to keep within its covering till noon, when the returning sunshine invited us forth. After riding over to Governor Stevens' to lunch, we went to the Nez Percé camp, where we found they were holding service in one of the largest lodges: two of the chiefs were officiating, one of them delivering an address, (taking the Ten Commandments for his text,) and at the end of each sentence the other chief would repeat it in a louder tone of voice. This is their invariable custom with all their speeches. Everything was conducted with the greatest propriety, and the singing, in which they all joined, had an exceedingly musical effect. 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.
At an early day the Roman Catholic Missionaries went among them, and as the tribe seemed blessed with a more tractable disposition than most of their brethren, the labors of the Fathers appear to have met with considerable success. A kind of Christianity was introduced among them, strangely altered, indeed, in many respects, to make it harmonize with Indian thoughts and actions, yet still retaining many of the great truths of the faith. It exerted, too, a very perceptible influence over their system of morality. The Methodists, I believe, have more recently added their teaching; so that if the theological creed of the Nez Percés was now investigated, it would probably be an odd system, which would startle an ordinary D.D.