tomed dilatoriness, did not begin to come in until the 24th, when Lawyer and Looking Glass of the Nez Percés arrived with their delegation, and encamped at no great distance from the commissioners, after having passed through the fantastic evolutions, in full war costume, sometimes practised on such occasions.[1] The Cayuses appeared in like manner two days later, and on the 28th the Yakimas, who, with others, made up an assemblage of between four and five thousand Indians of both sexes. An attempt was made on the day following to organize the council, but it was not until the 30th that business was begun.
Before the council opened it became evident that a majority of the Indians were not in favor of treating,[2] if indeed they were not positively hostile to the people represented by the commissioners; the Cayuses in particular regarding the troops with scowls of anger, which they made no attempt to conceal. Day after day, until the 11th of June, the slow and reluctant conference went on. The chiefs made speeches, with that mixture of business shrewdness and savage poetry which renders the Indian's eloquence so effective.[3]
- ↑ See Hist. Or., i. 130–1, this series.
- ↑ Kip's Indian Council, 21.
- ↑ The chief of the Cayuses thought it was wrong to sell the ground given them by the great spirit for their support. 'I wonder if the ground has anything to say? I wonder if the ground is listening to what is said… I hear what the ground says. The ground says, "It is the great spirit that placed me here. The great spirit tells me to take care of the Indians, to feed them aright. The great spirit appointed the roots to feed the Indians on." The water says the same thing. The great spirit directs me, "Feed the Indians well." The grass says the same thing, "Feed the horses and cattle." The ground, water, and grass say, "The great spirit has given us our names. We have these names and hold these names. Neither the Indians nor the whites have a right to change these names." The ground says, "The great spirit has placed me here to produce all that grows on me, trees and fruit." The same way the ground says, "It was from me man was made." The great spirit in placing men on the earth desired them to take good care of the ground, and do each other no harm. The great spirit said, "You Indians who take care of certain portions of the country should not trade it off except you get a fair price."' Kip's Indian Council, 22–6. In this argument was an attempt to enunciate a philosophy equal to the white man's. It ended, as all savage
a table of split logs, with the flat side up. The troops, too, were sheltered in arbors, and but for the showery weather the comfort of the occasion would have equalled its picturesqueness.
