Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 13.djvu/384

376 SPALDING LETTERS miles of this building spot is the greatest country I've seen yet. His location is about east of this. Brother Gray and the men will go to building immediately. Doct. W. and myself expect, God willing, to go into the Nez Perces country on the 9th. Several Nez Perces have arrived to conduct us to their country. My beloved chief, spoken of in several letters, who came out to meet Mr. Parker, Dr. Whitman and myself, and who has stuck by us from the beginning, I think will be here tomorrow. The Nez Perces are certainly the handsomest In- dians I ever saw, the most friendly, a most likely of the red men and live better than any other tribes on this side of the mountain. The Cheyoos among whom Doctor_has settled, next ; the Walla Walla's next. All these speak the Nez Perces lan- guage. But as we pressed west the Indians became more wretched and filthy. The women have a small covering about the loins, the men are entirely naked, with no appearance of shame. You may frequently see four or five hunting in each other's herd [heads] and eating the prey. They were formerly in the habit of shooting all the horses of a chief over his grave. I saw a large pile of horse bones the other day in such a place. This custom the Hudson Bay. Co. have broken up. It was once the custom, if a mother died at any time within six weeks after the birth of a child, to bury the living child with the mother. This custom was also broken up by the Company. There has been no case until now for five years. A Walla Walla woman died soon after the birth of a child. The father gave a horse for another woman to nurse the child; three days after, the father of the mother, took the child and buried it alive with its mother. The father of the child takes it very hard. The women of this country are great gamblers; six or eight of them will frequently stake property, especially among the Nez Perces, to the amount of $500.00 mostly ornaments. Let me tell the dear Christian ladies who lay out the Lord's money to appear fine, could they see a Nez Perces woman with herself and house [horse] equipped, pass through one of their cities, they would go to their drawing room, take down their sham trappings and cast them into the fire, as not worth notic-