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INDIAN WARS OF OREGON.

ground their arms. After a few minutes deliberation Lane ordered them to retire and return again in two days to a peace council, during which time he should hold their chief as a hostage; and sullenly they departed with a new view of the character of the white race, whom they were accustomed to see in the light of fleeing victims of their cupidity and barbarity.

Lane s natural gallantry, love of adventure, and his fine courage made him particularly well adapted to deal with Indians. The morning following the captivity of the Rogue-river chief, his wife appeared on the bank of the river opposite the camp, and entreated to be allowed to join her lord. This was permitted, and Lane used the opportunity to impress upon the savage mind some of the higher sentiments of chivalry. In this he was so successful that before the two days were spent the proud chief requested a further conversation. Having learned from the interpreter the name of his hero, he addressed him, "Mika name Jo Lane?" "Nawitka," said the one-time general. "Give your name to me," said the chief, "for I have seen no man like you." To this proposal Lane replied that he would give him half his name—Jo—by which monosyllabic appellation the Rogue-river chief was known from that day forward.

The softening process having gone on for days, Lane presented to the mind of chief Jo the advantages of a treaty with the United States with such success that his propositions were accepted, even to the restoration of property taken from the Oregonians passing through their country, minus the gold dust, which had been ignorantly poured into the river, and so become lost irrecoverably. By Jo's advice his people all consented to the terms of the treaty as drawn up by Lane, which they kept with tolerable honesty for that year.

In order to prevent, as far as he could, a violation of the Indians rights under the treaty, papers were given to each member of the tribe present containing a written warn-