Chapter VII

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SMOHALLA AND HIS DOCTRINE

My young men shall never work. Men who work can not dream, and wisdom comes to us in dreams.... You ask me to plow the ground. Shall I take a knife and tear my mother’s bosom? You ask me to dig for stone. Shall I dig under her skin for her bones? You ask me to cut grass and make hay and sell it and be rich like white men. But how dare I cut off my mother’s hair?—_Smohalla._

We hear little of Smohalla for several years after the Nez Percé war until the opening of the Northern Pacific railroad in 1883 once more brought to a focus the land grievances of the Indians in that section. Along Yakima valley the railroad “was located through Indian fields and orchards, with little respect for individual rights,” while the host of prospective settlers who at once swarmed into the country showed the usual white man’s consideration for the native proprietors. Some of the Indians, breaking away from their old traditions in order to obtain permanent homes before everything should be taken up by the whites, had gone out and selected homesteads under the law, and the agent was now using the Indian police to compel them to return to the reservation, “and the singular anomaly was presented of the United States Indian agent on the one hand applying for troops to drive the Indians from their homestead settlements to the reservation a hundred miles away, and on the other the Indians telegraphing to the military authorities to send troops to protect them from the Indian police.” (_MacMurray MS._) In addition to their land troubles the Yakima and their confederated tribes, among whom were many progressive and even prosperous Indians, were restive under constant interference with their religious (Smohalla) ceremonies, to which a large proportion adhered.

In order to learn the nature of the dissatisfaction of the Indians, and if possible to remove the cause, General Miles, then commanding the military department of the Columbia, sent Major J. W. MacMurray to the scene of the disturbance in June, 1884. He spent about a year in the work, visiting the various villages of the upper Columbia, especially Pʿnä at Priest rapids, where he met Smohalla, the high priest of the Dreamer theology, and his report on the subject is invaluable.

Smohalla is the chief of the Wa′napûm, a small tribe in Washington, numbering probably less than 200 souls, commonly known rather indefinitely as “Columbia River Indians,” and roaming along both banks of the Columbia from the neighborhood of Priest rapids down to the entrance of Snake river. They are of Shahaptian stock and closely akin to the Yakima and Nez Percés, and have never made a treaty with the government. Among his own people and his disciples in the neighboring tribes he is known as Shmóqûla, “The Preacher.”[5] He is also frequently called Yu′yunipĭ′tqana, “The Shouting Mountain,” from a belief among his followers that a part of his revelation came to him from a mountain which became instinct with life and spoke into his soul while he lay dreaming upon it. Still another name by which he is sometimes known is Waip-shwa, or “Rock Carrier,” the reason for which does not appear. The name which belonged to him in youth, before assuming his priestly function, is now forgotten. For more than forty years he has resided at the Wanapûm village of Pʿnä on the west bank of the Columbia, at the foot of Priest rapids, in what is now Yakima county, Washington. The name Pʿnä signifies “a fish weir,” this point being a great rendezvous for the neighboring tribes during the salmon-fishing season. These frequent gatherings afford abundant opportunity for the teaching and dissemination of his peculiar doctrines, as is sufficiently evident from the fact that, while his own tribe numbers hardly two score families, his disciples along the river are counted by thousands.

[Illustration: PL. LXXXVIII

DISTRIBUTION OF TRIBES OF THE UPPER COLUMBIA REGION IN WASHINGTON, OREGON AND IDAHO INCLUDING ALL THOSE OF THE SMOHALLA AND SHAKER RELIGIONS BY JAMES MOONEY 1894]

Smohalla was born about 1815 or 1820, and is consequently now an old man, although still well preserved, and with his few scattering locks unchanged in color. At the time of the Nez Percé war he was in the full vigor of manhood. His appearance in 1884 is thus described by Major MacMurray: “In person Smohalla is peculiar. Short, thick-set, bald-headed and almost hunch-backed, he is not prepossessing at first sight, but he has an almost Websterian head, with a deep brow over bright, intelligent eyes. He is a finished orator. His manner is mostly of the bland, insinuating, persuasive style, but when aroused he is full of fire and seems to handle invectives effectively. His audience seemed spellbound under his magic manner, and it never lost interest to me, though he spoke in a language comprehended by few white men and translated to me at second or third hand.” By another writer who met him a year later he is described as rather undersized and inclining toward obesity, with “a reserved and cunning but not ill-natured countenance, and a large, well-shaped head. His manners were more suave and insinuating than is usual with Indians.” He had a comfortable appearance, his moccasins and leggings were new, and he rode a good pinto pony. (_Huggins, 1._)

In his youth he had frequented the Catholic mission of Atahnam among the Yakima, where he became familiar with the forms of that service and also acquired a slight knowledge of French. Whether or not he was a regular member of the mission school is a disputed point, as it is asserted by some that he has never worn the white man’s dress or had his hair cut. The influence of the Catholic ceremonial is plainly visible in his own ritual performance. In his early manhood he distinguished himself as a warrior, and had already come to be regarded as a prominent man when he first began to preach his peculiar theology about the year 1850. There can be no question that the rapid spread of his doctrines among the tribes of the Columbia materially facilitated their confederation in the Yakima war of 1855–56. It is said that he aspired to be the leader in this war, and that, to attain this end, he invited all the neighboring bands to attend a council at his village of Pʿnä, but failed to accomplish his object.

Shortly after the close of the war, probably about 1860, the incident occurred which wrought an entire change in his life, stamping him as an oracle and prophet beyond peradventure, and giving to his religious system the force of authority which it has ever since retained. He had already established a reputation as a medicine-man, and was believed to be “making medicine” against the life of Moses, the noted chief of a tribe farther up the river, who was greatly in dread of his occult powers, and forced a quarrel in order to rid himself forever of his rival. A fight resulted, and Smohalla was nearly killed. It is said that he was left on the ground as dead, but revived sufficiently to crawl away and get into a boat on the bank of the Columbia near by. Bleeding and disabled, he was carried down at the mercy of the current until he was finally rescued from his perilous position by some white men, far below. His recovery was slow. When it was completed, unwilling to return in disgrace to his own country and probably still dreading the anger of Moses, he determined to become a wanderer.

Then began one of the most remarkable series of journeyings ever undertaken by an uncivilized Indian. Going down the Columbia to Portland and the coast, he turned south, and, stopping on the way at various points in Oregon and California, continued beyond San Diego into Mexico. Then, turning again, he came back through Arizona, Utah, and Nevada to his former home on the Columbia, where he announced that he had been dead and in the spirit world and had now returned by divine command to guide his people. As he was thought to have been killed in the encounter with Moses, and as he had disappeared so completely until now, his awe-stricken hearers readily believed that they were actually in the presence of one who had been taken bodily into the spirit world, whence he was now sent back as a teacher.

On the occasion of MacMurray’s visit, says that authority, “Smohalla asked me many geographic questions, and I spread out a railroad map, marking the situation of Priest rapids, Portland, and Vancouver barracks, and he traced with a straw down the coast line to below San Diego. He asked where San Bernardino was, and paused long over this. He recognized the ocean or ‘salt chuck,’ with many other geographic features and localities, but he would neither admit nor deny having been at Salt Lake City, although he admitted having been in Utah, knew the lake and adjacent mountain chains, and said that he had seen Mormon priests getting commands direct from heaven. He dwelt long over Arizona, and remarked, ‘_bad-a Inchun_.’”

Smohalla now declared to his people that the Sa′ghalee Tyee, the Great Chief Above, was angry at their apostasy, and commanded them through him to return to their primitive manners, as their present miserable condition in the presence of the intrusive race was due to their having abandoned their own religion and violated the laws of nature and the precepts of their ancestors. He then explained in detail the system to which they must adhere in future if they would conform to the expressed will of the higher power. It was a system based on the primitive aboriginal mythology and usage, with an elaborate ritual which combined with the genuine Indian features much of what he had seen and remembered of Catholic ceremonial and military parade, with perhaps also some additions from Mormon forms.

His words made a deep impression on his hearers. They had indeed abandoned their primitive simplicity to a great extent, and were now suffering the penalty in all the misery that had come to them with the advent of the white-skin race that threatened to blot them out from the earth. The voice of the prophet was accepted as a voice from the other world, for they knew that he had been dead and was now alive. What he said must be true and wise, for he had been everywhere and knew tribes and countries they had never heard of. Even the white men confirmed his words in this regard. He could even control the sun and the moon, for he had said when they would be dark, and they were dark.

If genius be a form of insanity, as has been claimed, intense religious enthusiasm would seem to have a close connection with physical as well as mental disease. Like Mohammed and Joan of Arc, and like the Shaker prophet of Puget sound, Smohalla is subject to cataleptic trances, and it is while in this unconscious condition that he is believed to receive his revelations. Says MacMurray:

He falls into trances and lies rigid for considerable periods. Unbelievers have experimented by sticking needles through his flesh, cutting him with knives, and otherwise testing his sensibility to pain, without provoking any responsive action. It was asserted that he was surely dead, because blood did not flow from the wounds. These trances always excite great interest and often alarm, as he threatens to abandon his earthly body altogether because of the disobedience of his people, and on each occasion they are in a state of suspense as to whether the Saghalee Tyee will send his soul back to earth to reoccupy his body, or will, on the contrary, abandon and leave them without his guidance. It is this going into long trances, out of which he comes as from heavy sleep and almost immediately relates his experiences in the spirit land, that gave rise to the title of “Dreamers,” or believers in dreams, commonly given to his followers by the neighboring whites. His actions are similar to those of a trance medium, and if self-hypnotization be practicable that would seem to explain it. I questioned him as to his trances and hoped to have him explain them to me, but he avoided the subject and was angered when I pressed him. He manifestly believes all he says of what occurs to him in this trance state. As we have hundreds of thousands of educated white people who believe in similar fallacies, this is not more unlikely in an Indian subjected to such influence.

In studying Smohalla we have to deal with the same curious mixture of honest conviction and cunning deception that runs through the history of priestcraft in all the ages. Like some other prophets before him, he seeks to convey the idea that he is in control of the elements and the heavenly bodies, and he has added greatly to his reputation by predicting several eclipses. This he was enabled to do by the help of an almanac and some little explanation from a party of surveyors. In this matter, however, he was soon made to realize that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. He could not get another almanac, and his astronomic prophecies came to an abrupt termination at the end of the first year. Concerning this, Major MacMurray says:

He showed me an almanac of a preceding year and asked me to readjust it for eclipses, as it did not work as it had formerly done. I explained that Washington (the Naval Observatory) made new ones every year, and that old ones could not be fixed up to date. He had probably obtained this one from the station agent at the railroad, now superseded by a new one, who had cut off Smohalla’s supply of astronomical data. My inability to repair the 1882 almanac for use in prognosticating in 1884 cost me much of his respect as a wise man from the east. (_MacMurray MS._)

Smohalla had also a blank book containing mysterious characters, some of which resembled letters of the alphabet, and which he said were records of events and prophecies. MacMurray was unable to decide whether they were mnemonic or were simply unmeaning marks intended to foster among his followers the impression of his superior wisdom. It is probable that they were genuine mnemonic symbols invented by himself for his own purposes, as such systems, devised and used by single individuals or families, and unintelligible to others, are by no means rare among those who may be called the literary men of our aboriginal tribes.

[Illustration: PL. LXXXIX

SMOHALLA AND HIS PRIESTS]

As their principal troubles arose out of the disputed title to their lands, Major MacMurray was asked by the Indians to explain the Indian homestead law and how white men divided land. This was carefully done with the aid of a checkerboard, and they were shown how the land was mapped out into equal squares arranged on straight lines so that every man could find his own. They were then urged by the officer to apply for homesteads and settle upon them so as to avoid further trouble with the new settlers who were pouring into the country. Smohalla replied that he knew all this, but he did not like the new law, as it was against nature. He then went on to expound in detail the Indian cosmogony. Said he:

I will tell you about it. Once the world was all water and God lived alone. He was lonesome, he had no place to put his foot, so he scratched the sand up from the bottom and made the land, and he made the rocks, and he made trees, and he made a man; and the man had wings and could go anywhere. The man was lonesome, and God made a woman. They ate fish from the water, and God made the deer and other animals, and he sent the man to hunt and told the woman to cook the meat and to dress the skins. Many more men and women grew up, and they lived on the banks of the great river whose waters were full of salmon. The mountains contained much game and there were buffalo on the plains. There were so many people that the stronger ones sometimes oppressed the weak and drove them from the best fisheries, which they claimed as their own. They fought and nearly all were killed, and their bones are to be seen in the hills yet. God was very angry at this and he took away their wings and commanded that the lands and fisheries should be common to all who lived upon them; that they were never to be marked off or divided, but that the people should enjoy the fruits that God planted in the land, and the animals that lived upon it, and the fishes in the water. God said he was the father and the earth was the mother of mankind; that nature was the law; that the animals, and fish, and plants obeyed nature, and that man only was sinful. This is the old law.

I know all kinds of men. First there were my people (the Indians); God made them first. Then he made a Frenchman [referring to the Canadian voyagers of the Hudson Bay company], and then he made a priest [priests accompanied these expeditions of the Hudson Bay company]. A long time after that came Boston men [Americans are thus called in the Chinook jargon, because the first of our nation came into the Columbia river in 1796 in a ship from Boston], and then King George men [the English]. Later came black men, and last God made a Chinaman with a tail. He is of no account and has to work all the time like a woman. All these are new people. Only the Indians are of the old stock. After awhile, when God is ready, he will drive away all the people except those who have obeyed his laws.

Those who cut up the lands or sign papers for lands will be defrauded of their rights and will be punished by God’s anger. Moses was bad. God did not love him. He sold his people’s houses and the graves of their dead. It is a bad word that comes from Washington. It is not a good law that would take my people away from me to make them sin against the laws of God.

You ask me to plow the ground! Shall I take a knife and tear my mother’s bosom? Then when I die she will not take me to her bosom to rest.

You ask me to dig for stone! Shall I dig under her skin for her bones? Then when I die I can not enter her body to be born again.

You ask me to cut grass and make hay and sell it, and be rich like white men! But how dare I cut off my mother’s hair?

It is a bad law, and my people can not obey it. I want my people to stay with me here. All the dead men will come to life again. Their spirits will come to their bodies again. We must wait here in the homes of our fathers and be ready to meet them in the bosom of our mother. (_MacMurray MS._)

The idea that the earth is the mother of all created things lies at the base, not only of the Smohalla religion, but of the theology of the Indian tribes generally and of primitive races all over the world. This explains Tecumtha’s reply to Harrison: “The sun is my father and the earth is my mother. On her bosom I will rest.” In the Indian mind the corn, fruits, and edible roots are the gifts which the earth-mother gives freely to her children. Lakes and ponds are her eyes, hills are her breasts, and streams are the milk flowing from her breasts. Earthquakes and underground noises are signs of her displeasure at the wrongdoing of her children. Especially are the malarial fevers, which often follow extensive disturbance of the surface by excavation or otherwise, held to be direct punishments for the crime of lacerating her bosom.

Smohalla’s chief supporter and assistant at the ceremonies was Kotai′aqan, or Coteea′kun, as MacMurray spells it, of the Yakima tribe. The name refers to a brood of young ducks scattering in alarm. He was the son of Kamai′äkan, the great war chief of the Yakima. He also gave MacMurray the story of the cosmos, which agrees with that obtained from Smohalla, but is more in detail:

The world was all water, and Saghalee Tyee was above it. He threw up out of the water at shallow places large quantities of mud, and that made the land. Some was piled so high that it froze hard, and the rains that fell were made into snow and ice. Some of the earth was made hard into rocks, and anyone could see that it had not changed—it was only harder. We have no records of the past; but we have it from our fathers from far back that Saghalee Tyee threw down many of the mountains he had made. It is all as our fathers told us, and we can see that it is true when we are hunting for game or berries in the mountains. I did not see it done. He made trees to grow, and he made a man out of a ball of mud and instructed him in what he should do. When the man grew lonesome, he made a woman as his companion, and taught her to dress skins, and to gather berries, and to make baskets of the bark of roots, which he taught her how to find.

She was asleep and dreaming of her ignorance of how to please man, and she prayed to Saghalee Tyee to help her. He breathed on her and gave her something that she could not see, or hear, or smell, or touch, and it was preserved in a little basket, and by it all the arts of design and skilled handiwork were imparted to her descendants.

Notwithstanding all the benefits they enjoyed, there was quarreling among the people, and the earth-mother was angry. The mountains that overhung the river at the Cascades were thrown down, and dammed the stream and destroyed the forests and whole tribes, and buried them under the rocks. (_MacMurray MS._)

In connection with the wonderful little basket, MacMurray states that Kotai′aqan presented him with a very ancient drum-shape basket, about 2½ inches in diameter, to give to his wife, in order that she might likewise be inspired. Concerning the catastrophe indicated in the last paragraph, he goes on to say:

The Cascade range, where it crosses the Columbia river, exhibits enormous cross sections of lava, and at its base are petrified trunks of trees, which have been covered and hidden from view except where the wash of the mighty stream has exposed them. Indians have told me, of their knowledge, that, buried deep under these outpours of basalt, or volcanic tufa, are bones of animals of _siah_, or the long ago. Traditions of the great landslide at the Cascades are many, but vary little in form. According to one account, the mountain tops fell together and formed a kind of arch, under which the water flowed, until the overhanging rocks finally fell into the stream and made a dam or gorge. As the rock is columnar basalt, very friable and easily disintegrated, that was not impossible, and the landscape suggests some such giant avalanche. The submerged trees are plainly visible near this locality. Animal remains I have not seen, but these salmon-eating Indians have lived on the river’s border through countless ages, and know every feature in their surroundings by constant association for generations, and naturally ally these facts with their religious theories. (_MacMurray MS._)

In an article on “The submerged trees of the Columbia river,” in Science of February 18, 1887, the geologist, Major Clarence E. Dutton, also notices the peculiar formation at the Cascades and mentions the Indian tradition of a natural bridge over the river at this point.

[Illustration: PL. XC

SMOHALLA CHURCH ON YAKIMA RESERVATION]

MacMurray continues:

Coteeakun went on to say that some day Saghalee Tyee would again overturn the mountains and so expose these bones, which, having been preserved through so long a time, would be reoccupied by the spirits which now dwell in the mountain tops, watching their descendants on earth and waiting for the resurrection to come. The voices of these spirits of the dead can be heard at all times in the mountains, and often they answer back when spoken to. Mourners who wail for their dead hear spirit voices replying, and know they will always remain near them. No man knows when it will come, and only those who have observed nature’s laws and adhered to the faith of their ancestors will have their bones so preserved and be certain of an earthly tenement for their spirits. He wanted me to confirm this.

Coteeakun was pacific and gentle. He said all men were as brothers to him and he hoped all would dwell together. He had been told that white and black and all other kinds of men originally dwelt in tents, as the red men always have done, and that God in former times came to commune with white men. He thought there could be only one Saghalee Tyee, in which case white and red men would live on a common plane. We came from one source of life and in time would “grow from one stem again. It would be like a stick that the whites held by one end and the Indians by the other until it was broken, and it would be made again into one stick.”

Some of the wilder Indians to the north have more truculent ideas as to the final cataclysm which is to reoverturn the mountains and bring back the halcyon days of the long past. As the whites and the others came only within the lifetime of the fathers of these Indians, they are not to be included in the benefits of the resurrection, but are to be turned over with all that the white man’s civilization has put upon the present surface of the land.

Coteeakun was for progress—limited progress, it is true—to the extent of fixed homes and agriculture, but he did not want his people to go from their villages or to abandon their religious faith. They were nearly all disposed to work for wages among the farmers, and had orchards and some domestic animals upon whose produce they lived, besides the fish from the rivers. Smohalla opposed anything that pertained to civilization, and had neither cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, nor chickens, and not a tree or vegetable was grown anywhere in his vicinage. Kowse (_Peucedanum cous_), kamas (_Camassia esculenta_), berries, fish, and the game of the mountains alone furnished food to his people, whom he advised to resist every advance of civilization as improper for a true Indian and in violation of the faith of their ancestors. I found, however, that he was willing to advise his people to take up lands and adopt the white man’s road, if the government would pension him as it had pensioned Chief Moses, so that while I thought he believed in his religion as much as other sectarians do in theirs, he was tainted by the mercenary desire to live upon his followers unless otherwise provided for by the government.

From Captain E. L. Huggins, Second cavalry, who visited Smohalla about the same time, we obtain further information concerning the prophet’s personality and doctrines. When Smohalla was urged to follow the example of other Indians who had taken up the white man’s road, he replied, “No one has any respect for these book Indians. Even the white men like me better and treat me better than they do the book Indians. My young men shall never work. Men who work can not dream, and wisdom comes to us in dreams.”

When it was argued that the whites worked and yet knew more than the Indians, he replied that the white man’s wisdom was poor and weak and of no value to Indians, who must learn the highest wisdom from dreams and from participating in the Dreamer ceremonies. Being pressed to explain the nature of this higher knowledge, he replied, “Each one must learn for himself the highest wisdom. It can not be taught. You have the wisdom of your race. Be content.”

When the officer contended that even the Indians had to work hard during the fishing season to get food for winter, the prophet answered:

“This work lasts only for a few weeks. Besides it is natural work and does them no harm. But the work of the white man hardens soul and body. Nor is it right to tear up and mutilate the earth as white men do.”

To the officer’s assertion that the Indians also dug roots and were even then digging kamas in the mountains, he replied:

“We simply take the gifts that are freely offered. We no more harm the earth than would an infant’s fingers harm its mother’s breast. But the white man tears up large tracts of land, runs deep ditches, cuts down forests, and changes the whole face of the earth. You know very well this is not right. Every honest man,” said he, looking at me searchingly, “knows in his heart that this is all wrong. But the white men are so greedy they do not consider these things.”

He asserted that the Indians were now so helpless before the white men that they must cease to exist unless they had assistance from a higher power, but that if they heeded the sacred message they would receive strong and sudden help as surely as the spring comes after winter. When some doubt was expressed as to his own faith in these things, he asked pointedly:

“Do the white teachers believe what they teach?”

“It is said, Smohalla, that you hate all white men.”

“It is not true. But the whites have caused us great suffering. Dr Whitman many years ago made a long journey to the east to get a bottle of poison for us. He was gone about a year, and after he came back strong and terrible diseases broke out among us. The Indians killed Dr Whitman, but it was too late. He had uncorked his bottle and all the air was poisoned. Before that there was little sickness among us, but since then many of us have died. I have had children and grandchildren, but they are all dead. My last grandchild, a young woman of 16, died last month. If only her infant could have lived”—his voice faltered slightly, but with scarcely a pause he continued in his former tone, “I labored hard to save them, but my medicine would not work as it used to.”

He repelled the idea that the Indians had profited by the coming of the whites, and especially denied that they had obtained ponies from this source. His statement on this point may be of interest to those who hold that the horse is indigenous to America:

“What! The white man gave us ponies? Oh, no; we had ponies long before we ever saw white people. The Great Spirit gave them to us. Our horses were swifter and more enduring, too, in those days, before they were mixed with the white man’s horses.”

He went on to tell how the Indians had befriended the first explorers who came among them and how ungrateful had been their later recompense, and said: “We are now so few and weak that we can offer no resistance, and their preachers have persuaded them to let a few of us live, so as to claim credit with the Great Spirit for being generous and humane. But they begrudge us what little grass our ponies eat.” At parting he repeated earnestly, “If they tell you Smohalla hates all white people, do not believe it.” (_Huggins, 2._)

* * * * *

Our knowledge of the Smohalla ritual is derived from the account given by Major MacMurray and from the statements of Yakima and Pälus informants. The officer’s account is that of an intelligent observer, who noted ceremonies closely, but without fully comprehending their meaning. The Indian account is that of initiates and true believers, one of them being the regular interpreter of the Smohalla services on Yakima reservation.

The officer had already seen the ceremonial performances at the Indian villages at Celilo and Umatilla in Oregon, at Tumwater and Yakima gap in Washington, but found its greatest development at the fountain head, the home of Smohalla at Priest rapids. His account is so full of interest that we give it almost in its entirety.

While still several miles away, his party discovered the village, the houses extending along the bank of the river, with several flags attached to long poles fluttering in the wind. The trail from the mountains was winding and difficult, but at last—

We reached the plain and were met by a procession, headed by Smohalla in person, all attired in gorgeous array and mounted on their best chargers. We wended our way through sagebrush and sand dunes to the village street, not a soul being visible, but from the mat-roofed salmon houses there came forth the most indescribable chorus of bell ringing, drum beating, and screeching. I noticed that the street was neatly swept and well sprinkled—an unusual thing in any Indian village. This, Smohalla said, was in my honor and to show that his people had cleanly tastes. Our procession passed on beyond the village to a new canvas tent, which had a brush shade to keep off the sun and was lined and carpeted with new and very pretty matting. Smohalla said this had been prepared especially for me, and was to be my house as long as I should stay with him. To cap the climax, he had constructed a bench for me, having sent more than 90 miles for the nails. Fresh salmon, caught in a peculiar trap among the rocks and broiled on a plank, were regularly furnished my party, and with hard tack and coffee of our own supplying we got enough to eat and drink. Our own blankets furnished sleeping conveniences. The river was within two yards of our tent door and was an ample lavatory.

When I awoke the next morning, the sound of drums was again heard, and for days it continued. I do not remember that there was any intermission except for a few minutes at a time. Seven bass drums were used for the purpose. I was invited to be present, and took great interest in the ceremonies, which I shall endeavor to describe.

There was a small open space to the north of the larger house, which was Smohalla’s residence and the village assembly room as well. This space was inclosed by a whitewashed fence made of boards which had drifted down the river. In the middle was a flagstaff with a rectangular flag, suggesting a target. In the center of the flag was a round red patch. The field was yellow, representing grass, which is there of a yellow hue in summer. A green border indicated the boundary of the world, the hills being moist and green near their tops. At the top of the flag was a small extension of blue color, with a white star in the center. Smohalla explained: “This is my flag, and it represents the world. God told me to look after my people—all are my people. There are four ways in the world—north and south and east and west. I have been all those ways. This is the center. I live here. The red spot is my heart—everybody can see it. The yellow grass grows everywhere around this place. The green mountains are far away all around the world. There is only water beyond, salt water. The blue [referring to the blue cloth strip] is the sky, and the star is the north star. That star never changes; it is always in the same place. I keep my heart on that star. I never change.”

There are frequent services, a sort of processional around the outside of the fence, the prophet and a small boy with a bell entering the inclosure, where, after hoisting the flag, he delivers a sort of sermon. Captains or class leaders give instructions to the people, who are arranged according to stature, the men and women in different classes marching in single file to the sound of drums. There seems to be a regular system of signals, at command of the prophet, by the boy with the bell, upon which the people chant loud or low, quick or slow, or remain silent. These outdoor services occurred several times each day.

[Illustration: +Fig. 64+—Smohalla’s flag (heraldic).]

Smohalla invited me to participate in what he considered a grand ceremonial service within the larger house. This house was built with a framework of stout logs placed upright in the ground and roofed over with brush, or with canvas in rainy weather. The sides consisted of bark and rush matting. It was about 75 feet long by 25 feet wide. Singing and drumming had been going on for some time when I arrived. The air resounded with the voices of hundreds of Indians, male and female, and the banging of drums. Within, the room was dimly lighted. Smoke curled from a fire on the floor at the farther end and pervaded the atmosphere. The ceiling was hung with hundreds of salmon, split and drying in the smoke.

The scene was a strange one. On either side of the room was a row of twelve women standing erect with arms crossed and hands extended, with finger tips at the shoulders. They kept time to the drums and their voices by balancing on the balls of their feet and tapping with their heels on the floor, while they chanted with varying pitch and time. The excitement and persistent repetition wore them out, and I heard that others than Smohalla had seen visions in their trances, but I saw none who would admit it or explain anything of it. I fancied they feared their own action, and that real death might come to them in this simulated death.

Those on the right hand were dressed in garments of a red color with an attempt at uniformity. Those on the left wore costumes of white buckskin, said to be very ancient ceremonial costumes, with red and blue trimmings. All wore large round silver plates or such other glittering ornaments as they possessed. A canvas covered the floor and on it knelt the men and boys in lines of seven. Each seven, as a rule, had shirts of the same color. The tallest were in front, the size diminishing regularly to the rear. Children and ancient hags filled in any spare space. In front on a mattress knelt Smohalla, his left hand covering his heart. On his right was the boy bell ringer in similar posture. Smohalla wore a white garment which he was pleased to call a priest’s gown, but it was simply a white cloth shirt with a colored stripe down the back.

[Illustration: PL. XCI

INTERIOR OF SMOHALLA CHURCH]

I and my two assistants were seated on a mattress about 10 feet in front of the prophet, which fortunately placed us near the door and incidentally near fresh air. There were two other witnesses, Indians from distant villages, who sat at one side with Smohalla’s son looking on.

Smohalla’s son was said to be in training as his successor. He was a young man, apparently about 23 years old, tall, slender, and active in movement, and commonly kept himself apart from the body of the people. He was much darker than his father. His dress was brilliant in style and color. He ordinarily wore a short gown or surplice, sometimes yellow and at other times sky blue, with ornate decorations of stars or moons appliqué, cut from bright-colored cloths. The sleeves were extravagantly trimmed with beads and silver ornaments. He knelt at the right of the group as the place of honor. On his left was Coteeakun, the head man of the Indian village at Union gap, on the Yakima reservation. The third man was Coteeakun’s brother, a most intelligent and progressive Indian. (_MacMurray MS._)

From Charles Ike, an intelligent half-blood interpreter on Yakima reservation, who is also the regular interpreter of the Smohalla ritual services at the Yakima village of Paʾkiut, we obtain additional interesting details concerning the ceremony as there performed, with the underlying religious teachings.

As at present taught, the religion finds adherents among probably all the tribes along the Columbia from near the British border down to the Wushqûm tribe at The Dalles, with the exception, perhaps, of the Klikatat, who are nearly all Catholics. The two chief centers are at Pʿnä or Priest rapids, where Smohalla in person regularly preaches to about 120 hearers, and at Paʾkiut, at Union gap on Yakima reservation, where, until his death a short time ago, Tianä′ni has regularly conducted the services for about 300 of his tribe. At each place is a church or meeting-house built as already described.

The former high priest of the doctrine among the Yakima, and the right-hand man of Smohalla himself, was Kotai′aqan, already mentioned, the son of the great war chief Kamai′äkan. It is even asserted that he was the originator of the system. However this may be, it is certain that he had much to do with formulating both the dogmas and the ritual. In temper he was more gentle than Smohalla, and more disposed to meet civilization half-way. On his death, about 1890, he was succeeded by his stepson, Tīanä′ni, or “Many Wounds,” who filled the office until about October, 1892, when he was murdered near his home by two drunken Indians. He was succeeded in the chieftainship by a younger son of Kotai′aqan named Sha′awĕ (or Shaw-wawa Kootiacan), and in his priestly functions by a man known to the whites as Billy John.

The regular services take place on Sunday, in the morning, afternoon, and evening. Sunday has been held sacred among the Nez Percés and neighboring tribes for more than sixty years, as the result of the teachings of the Hudson Bay officers. The prairie tribes also, having learned that Sunday is the great “medicine day” of the whites, now select it by preference for their own religious ceremonies of the Ghost dance and the mescal. There are also services during the week, besides special periodic observances, such as the “lament” for the dead, particularly the dead chiefs, in early spring; the salmon dance, when the salmon begin to run in April, and the berry dance, when the wild berries ripen in autumn. The description of the ceremonial of the salmon dance will answer for the others, as it differs chiefly only by the addition of the feast.

[Illustration: +Fig. 65+—Charles Ike, Smohalla interpreter.]

As already stated, the house has the door at the eastern end, as is the common rule in all Indian structures. On the roof, at the eastern end of the building at Paʾkiut, are the flags, the center one blue, representing the sky; another one white, representing the earthly light, and the third yellow, representing the heavenly light of the spirit world. Blue, white, and yellow are the sacred colors of this system, as also of that of the Shakers, to be described later. On entering, the worshipers range themselves in two lines along the sides of the building, the men and boys standing along the northern wall, the women and girls along the southern wall, and all facing toward the center. The first man entering takes his place on the north nearest the door; the next one stands just beyond him, and so on; while the women and girls, when their turn comes, make the whole circuit along the northern side, and then, turning at the farther end, take their places in reverse order along the southern wall. In the open space between the rows is a floor-walker, whose business it is to see that everyone is in the right place. All are dressed as nearly as possible in the finest style of the old Indian costume, buckskin and shell ornaments, their faces painted yellow, white, or red with Indian paints, and carrying eagle feathers in their right hands (plates +XC+, +XCI+; figure 66).

[Illustration: +Fig. 66+—Diagram showing arrangement of worshipers at Smohalla service.]

At the farther end, facing the door, sits the high priest, while just behind him stands his “interpreter,” and on his left are seated on the ground the three drummers with their large drums in front of them. The high priest carries a large bell in his left hand and a smaller one in his right.

Dishes of fresh-cooked salmon and jars of water, together with a plentiful supply of other food, are ranged in front of the devotees. After a preliminary ceremony in the nature of a litany, in which the principal articles of their theology are recited in the form of question and answer by the whole body of worshipers, the high priest gives the command, “Take water,” when everyone raises a cup of water to his lips. Next comes the command, “Now drink,” and each one takes a sip. At the words, “Now the salmon,” each takes up a portion of fish, which he puts into his mouth at the next command, “Now eat.” Last comes the command, “Now help yourselves,” which is the signal for a general attack on the provisions.

When everyone has satisfied his hunger, the remains of the feast are cleared away and the “dance” begins. At a signal given by a single stroke of the bell in the left hand of the high priest all stand up in line on either side of the building. At another stroke of the bell all put their right hands on their breasts. Another tap of the bell and the right hand is brought out in front of the body. Another, and they begin to move their right hands backward and forward like fans in front of the breast, and thus continue throughout the dance, keeping time also to the singing by balancing alternately upon their toes and heels, as already described, without moving from their places. Ritual songs are sung throughout the remainder of the service, in time with the movements of the dancers and the sounds of the drums, and regulated by the strokes of the bell.

Between songs anyone who wishes to speak steps out into the open space. With a single tap of the bell the high priest then summons his “interpreter,” standing behind him, who comes forward and stands beside the speaker, a few feet in front and at the right of the high priest. The speaker then in a low tone tells his story—usually a trance vision of the spirit world—to the interpreter, who repeats it in a loud voice to the company. At the end of the recital the high priest gives the signal with the bell, when all raise their right hands with a loud “Ai!” (Yes!). The high priest himself sometimes discourses also to the people through the interpreter; at other times directly.

Each song is repeated until the high priest gives the signal with the bell to stop. Most of the songs consist—in the native language—of seven lines. At the end of the first line the high priest taps once with the bell; at the end of the second line he taps twice, and so on to the end of the song, when he rings the bell hard and continuously, and all raise their hands with a loud “Ai!” Then the song leader, who stands with a feather fan between the high priest and the drummers, starts the next song.

The first song is given by all standing motionless, with the right hand on the breast and with eyes cast downward. It may be rendered:

Verily, verily, Our Brother made the body. He gave it a spirit and the body moved. Then he counted out the words for us to speak.

Another begins:

Verily, Our Brother put salmon in the water to be our food.

Another begins:

O, brothers! O, sisters! When first the light struck this world, it lighted the world forever.

Our Brother (_Nämi Piäp_) is the term used in referring to the creating spirit, instead of “our father,” as we might expect them to say.

On leaving, at the close of the ceremony, the man nearest the high priest passes around in front of him and down along in front of the line of women, and as he reaches the door he turns around and bows to the high priest. Each man in turn thus files around and passes out, after which the women—first the one nearest the high priest and then the others in regular order—pass out in the same manner. While the worshipers are thus going out, the high priest, standing up, rings continuously the small bell in his right hand, while with the larger bell in his left he gives a single stroke as each one passes through the door.

_Tribes of the Columbia region_

The following synopsis will give a good general idea of the location and numbers of the tribes of the Columbia region from the British line down to the Cascades, including all those under the influence of the Smohalla religion. Except when derived from such well-known authorities as Lewis and Clark, Stevens, Gibbs, etc., the information given is the result of personal investigation and work with Yakima and Pälus Indians. The general boundaries of the tribes west of the Cascade range, including the adherents of the Shaker religion, are also indicated on the accompanying map (plate +LXXXVIII+), but our information in regard to this region is too meager to be definite.

+Kutenai+ (Kitunahan stock).—_Synonyms_: Arcs Plats, Cotonné, Cottonoi, Coutanie, Flatbow, Kitunaha, Kootenai, Koutaine, Kutneha, Skalzi, Tushepaw (Lewis and Clark, 1805), White-tailed Deer People (Clark, Indian Sign Language). The Kutenai, properly Kituna′qa, form a distinct linguistic stock, and live chiefly on the Canadian side, around Kutenai river and lake, but extend across the line into northern Idaho and northwestern Montana. Their extension southward dates from their treaty of peace with the Flatheads about ninety years ago. In company with the Flatheads they were accustomed formerly to come down from the mountains in the fall to hunt the buffalo on the headwaters of the Missouri. They are mentioned by Lewis and Clark in 1805 under the name of Tushepaw, with bands distinguished as Ootlashoot, Micksucksealton (?), and Hohilpo living in the mountains and on Clark’s fork within United States territory. According to Gatschet, Tu′shipa is a collective term applied by the Shoshoni to the tribes living north of them, including the Nez Percés and others, as well as the Kutenai. A part of the Kutenai joined with the Flatheads and Upper Pend d’Oreilles in a treaty with the government in 1855 and are now on Flathead (Jocko) reservation in Montana. They are probably all Catholics. Others, living in northern Idaho, have never entered into treaty relations, and may be followers of Smohalla. The best estimates for the last fifty years give those within the United States a population of from 400 to 450.

+Pend d’Oreille+ (Salishan stock).—_Synonyms_: Calispel, Coospellar (Lewis and Clark), Kahlispelm, Kalispelines, Kalispelusses, Kellespem, Kullas-Palus, Ku′shpĕlu (a Yakima or Pälus form), Papshpûn-ʿlĕma or “people of the great fir trees” (Yakima name), Pend d’Oreilles or “ear-rings” (French name), Ponderas. The Pend d’Oreilles held the country along the river and lake of the same name, in Idaho and Washington, immediately southwest of the Kutenai. They are commonly distinguished as Upper, on the lake, and Lower, on both banks of the river. They are the Coospellar mentioned by Lewis and Clark in 1805. They formerly crossed the mountains annually to hunt buffalo on the Missouri. Since 1844 they and most of the other Salishan tribes of this region have been under the influence of Catholic missionaries. The Upper Pend d’Oreilles joined with the Flatheads and Kutenai in a treaty with the government in 1855, and are now on Flathead reservation in Montana. Some of the Lower band joined them there in 1887. Others are on the Cœur d’Alêne reservation in Idaho, a few are with Moses on the Columbia in Washington, and the rest are still in their original country, never having entered into treaty stipulations. The whole tribe numbers about 1,000 souls.

+Colville+ (Salishan stock).—_Synonyms_: Chaudière (French name), Chualpay, Kettle Falls, Quiarlpi or “basket people” (Hale), Schrooyelpi, Schwogelpi, Schwoyelpi, Swielpee, Wheelpoo (Lewis and Clark). They originally occupied the country on Colville and Kettle rivers and on both sides of the Columbia from Kettle falls down to Spokane river, in Washington, and extending north into British territory to about the lower Arrow lake. They are mentioned by Lewis and Clark under the name of Wheelpoo. Kettle falls on the Columbia, within their territory, was the great salmon fishing resort for all the tribes of this region, and here, in 1846, was established the Catholic mission of Saint Paul. As a result of this missionary work, all of these Salishan tribes, excepting the Sanpoil, Nespelim, Mitaui, and a part of the Spokan are now Catholics. In 1854, according to Stevens, the original Shwoyelpi were nearly extinct and their places had been filled by Indians from neighboring tribes. Without ever having entered into any treaty with the government, they were assigned in 1872 to Colville reservation, Washington, which had been set apart for the tribes of that section. They were reported to number 616 in 1870, and only 301 in 1892.

+Lake+ or +Senijextee+ (Salishan stock).—These owned the country on both sides of the Columbia, in Washington, from about Kettle falls northward into British Columbia to the vicinity of Arrow lake. They are now on Colville reservation in Washington and number about 350, with perhaps a few others across the boundary. They may be identical with the Lahannas of Lewis and Clark.

+Spokan+ (Salishan stock).—_Synonyms_: Lartielo (Lewis and Clark), Sarlilso (Gibbs), Sinhumanish, Sinkoman (Kutenai name), Spokihnish, Spokomish, Zingomenes. They are commonly distinguished as Upper Spokan or Sineeguomenah, Middle or Sintootoo, and Lower or Chekisschee (_Winans, Comr., 1870_). Spokan is the name given them by the Cœur d’Alênes; Sinkoman is their Kutenai name, while the Lartielo or Sarlilso of Lewis and Clark is simply a bad misprint for Sintootoo, the name of the middle band. They are closely connected, linguistically and politically, with the Sanpoil and Nespelim. The lower Spokan are now Protestants, the rest are Catholics. They formerly owned the whole basin of Spokane river in Washington and extending into Idaho. They are now on Spokane reservation in Washington and the Cœur d’Alêne reservation in Idaho, and number in all about 900 or 1,000.

+Cœur d’Alêne+ (Salishan stock).—_Synonyms_: Pointed Hearts, Qʾma′shpăl or “kamas people” (so called by the Yakima), Skeechaway, Skeetsomish (Lewis and Clark), Skitsămŭq (Pälus name), Skitswish, Stietshoi. They occupied the lake and river bearing their name in Idaho and the adjacent headwaters of the Spokane. A part of this territory they held jointly with the Spokan, whose language they speak. In 1892 they numbered 427, on Cœur d’Alêne reservation in Idaho.

+Sanpoil+ (Salishan stock).—_Synonyms_: Hai-ai′nĭma (Yakima name), Hihighenimmo (Lewis and Clark), Ipoilq (another Yakima name), Nʾpochle (Stevens), Sans Puelles, Sinapoils, Sinipouals, Sinpaivelish, Sinpohellechach, Sinpoilschne, Siur Poils. The name by which this tribe is commonly known is sometimes written as a French form Sans Poils, meaning “without bristles,” or “hairless,” but it is more probably an Indian word. They occupy the country on Sanpoil river in Washington, now included within Colville reservation, and are closely allied with the Nespelim. These two tribes are the most aboriginal in eastern Washington, and adhere strictly to their primitive customs and religion. The two tribes are thus described by Winans, the government farmer, in 1870:

They have never received any presents from the government, although they have been frequently asked to do so. They seem suspicious of the whites, are the least civilized and most independent of any of the tribes of the territory. They are rich in horses and cattle, possessing all the comforts they know how to enjoy, and it appears their only fear is that they will be interfered with by the government. They are perfectly contented with their condition, and would not accept anything from the government if offered, except a religious instructor and doctor.

Some years later they were brought under the reservation system and a change came o’er the spirit of their dream. In 1892 we are told officially that “the Sanpuell Indians are the worst people that I have anything to do with.... They are surly, ignorant, and filthy,” notwithstanding which they still “have the same religious prejudice as the Nespelims about receiving aid from the government.” Of the Nespelim the same intelligent witness tells us that “they are a peculiar class of Indians, having a religion of their own.” The religion of the two tribes is aboriginal, and is similar to the Smohalla doctrine in principle, although not in ceremonial. In 1892 the Sanpoil were estimated at 300.

+Nespelim+ (Salishan stock).—_Synonyms_: Inspellum, Sinspeelish. On the north bank of the Columbia, in Washington, along Nespelim river and down to the junction of the Okinagan, and on the opposite side of the Columbia down to about Grande Coulée. They speak the same language as the Sanpoils, and in aboriginal habit, religion, and organization are closely identified with them. They are within the limits of Colville reservation and were reported to number only 62 in 1892.

+Okanagan+ (Salishan stock).—_Synonyms_: Oakinacken, Okinakane, Okiwahkine. They occupy the whole basin of Okanagan river in Washington, extending north into British Columbia, and including Similkameen river. The Okanagan were an important tribe or confederacy divided into a number of bands, some of which have also at times been considered as belonging to the Spokan, while others are commonly recognized as distinct tribes. Ross gives them “twelve tribes,” as follows: Skamoynumach, Kewaughtchenunaugh, Pisscow (Piskwaus), Incomecane′took, Tsillane (Chelan), Intie′took (Entiatook), Battlelemuleemauch or Meatwho (Mitaui), Inspellum (Nespelim), Sinpohellechach (Sanpoil), Sinwhoyelppetook (Colville), Samilkanuigh (Similkameen), and Oakinacken (Okanagan). They are now included within the Colville agency, and are Catholics. They were estimated at 340 in 1870 and reported as numbering 405 in 1892.

+Mitaui+ (Salishan stock).—_Synonyms_: Battlelemuleemauch, Meatwho, Meshons, Meteowwee (Lewis and Clark), Methows, Mithouies. They formerly lived on the west side of the Columbia, including the basins of the Methow, Lake Chelan, and Entiatook river. Lewis and Clark met some of them in 1805 below the mouth of the Wallawalla. They are closely connected with the Piskwaus and Isle de Pierres. They now reside in Nespelim valley on Colville reservation, confederated with the Isle de Pierres under Chief Moses. The two tribes were reported at 390 in 1892. A few others live in the neighborhood of Kittitas near the Yakima tribe. See _Piskwaus_.

+Isle de Pierre+ (Salishan stock).—_Synonyms_: Columbias, Linkinse, Sinkiuse. They originally occupied the country in Washington from the Columbia eastward to the Grande Coulée, extending from about the mouth of the Grande Coulée down nearly to Crab creek. Isle de Pierre is the French name of Rock island in the Columbia at the mouth of the Wenatchee. For a long time, under their noted chief Moses, they refused to recognize the authority of the government or to go on a reservation. Now, however, they are settled in Nespelim valley, on Colville reservation. They were reported to number 390 in 1892 and are described as “true, genuine Indians in every sense of the word.” Their chief, Moses, the enemy and rival of Smohalla, was thus described in 1870: “Moses, the head chief, has been a great warrior. He was foremost in the fights of 1858 with Colonels Steptoe and Wright, and was severely wounded a number of times, but not dying, the Indians believe he has a charmed life. He is medium sized, about 45 years old, noble looking, straight as an arrow, and never breaks his word. He has more influence than any other chief east of the Cascade mountains in the territory. He comes nearer being such a chief as we read of than any I have ever met. He is kindly disposed toward the whites and invites them to come and settle in his country.” (_Winans._) Linguistically they are probably nearest related to the Piskwaus.

+Wa′napûm+ (Shahaptian stock).—_Synonyms_: Columbia River Indians, Sokulks. This is the tribe of which Smohalla is the chief and high priest. They are a small band, numbering probably less than 200 souls, and closely connected linguistically and politically with the Yakima, Pälus, and Nez Percés. Wanapûm is the name by which they are known to these cognate tribes, and signifies “river people;” from _wana_ or _wala_, “river” (particularly Columbia river), and _pûm_ or _pam_, “people or tribal country.” Together with the other non-treaty tribes of this region they are known to the whites under the indefinite name of “Columbia River Indians.” They are identical with the Sokulk met by Lewis and Clark at the mouth of Snake river and described as living farther up on the Columbia. The name Sokulk seems to be entirely unknown among the Yakima and Pälus of today. The Wa′napûm range along both banks of the Columbia, in Washington, from above Crab creek down to the mouth of Snake river. Their village, where Smohalla resides, is on the west bank of the Columbia, at the foot of Priest rapids, in the Yakima country. It is called Pʿnä, signifying “a fish weir,” and is a great rendezvous for the neighboring tribes during the salmon fishing season. Haying never made a treaty or gone on a reservation, they are not officially recognized by the government.

+Pä′lus+ (Shahaptian stock).—_Synonyms_: Palouse, Pelloatpallah Chopunnish (Lewis and Clark), Peloose, Polonches, Sewatpalla. The Pälus owned the whole basin of Palouse river in Washington and Idaho, and extended also along the north bank of Snake river to its junction with the Columbia. They were, and are, closely connected with the Wanapûm and the Nez Percés. Pälus, the name by which the tribe is commonly known, is properly the name of Standing Rock, at the junction of Palouse and Snake rivers. They can not explain the meaning. They have four villages: Almotu, on the north bank of Snake river in Washington, about 30 miles above the mouth of Palouse river; Pälus, on the north bank of Snake river just below the junction of the Palouse; Ta′sawĭks, on the north bank of Snake river about 15 miles above its mouth; and Kasĭ′spä or Cosispa (meaning “at the point,” from _kăsĭ′s_, a point, and _pä_, the locative), at Ainsworth in the junction of the Snake and Columbia. This last village has a slight difference in dialect and is sometimes regarded as belonging to the Wanapûm. Although the Pä′lus are mentioned as parties to the Yakima treaty of 1855, they have never as a tribe recognized any treaty limitations or come upon a reservation. They are aboriginal in their ideas and among the most devoted adherents of the Smohalla doctrine. They were estimated at 500 in 1854, but, not being officially recognized, it is impossible to give their present number.

+Pĭskwaus+ or +Winä′tshipûm+ (Salishan stock).—_Synonyms_: Piscaous, Piscous, Pisquose. The name by which this tribe is commonly known is properly the name of a fishing place on Wenatchee river, and is probably Salishan, but may be from the Yakima _pĭsko_, signifying “a bend in the river.” The Yakima call the river Winätshi, signifying a “river issuing from a cañon,” and the tribe Winätshipûm. The Piskwaus proper, on Wenatchee river, with their connected bands or tribes living in the same neighborhood, west of the Columbia in Kittitas and Okanogan counties, Washington, are a southern extension of the Mitaui and speak the same language. Under the name of Piskwaus, Stevens includes “the Indians on the Columbia between the Priests’ and Ross rapids, on the Pisquose or Winatshapam river; the Enteatkeon, Chelaun lake, and the Mithaw on Barrier river. The name of Pisquouse, however, properly refers to a single locality on the river known to the Yakamas as Winatshapam. The Pisquouse themselves, as has before been remarked, are so much intermarried with the Yakamas that they have almost lost their nationality. These bands were formerly all united under one principal chief, Stalkoosum, who is said to have been a man of great note among them. He was killed a few years since in a fight with the Blackfeet, since which there has been no head of the tribe.” (_Stevens, Comr. Rept., 1854._) The Piskwaus and smaller connected tribes took part in the Yakima treaty of 1855, but do not live on the reservation. Most of them live on the Wenatchee and the north branch of Yakima river in Kittitas county. They are all Catholics. There is no official statement of their number. Smaller tribes or bands connected with the Piskwaus proper and speaking the same language are:

1. +K̔′tătäs+, K̔tătäs-‛lĕ′ma, Ketetas (Stevens), Pshwa′năpûm (Yakima name), Shanwappoms (Lewis and Clark). K̔′tătäs signifies “a shoal,” _‘lĕ′ma_ being a tribal suffix, and Pshwană-pûm in the Yakima language signifies “shoal people,” the name referring to a shoal in Yakima river at Ellensburg.

2. +Ska′utăl+, or Skaddal (of Lewis and Clark). About Boston creek and Kahchass lake, at the head of Yakima river.

3. +W‛shä′nătu+, or Shallattoos (of Lewis and Clark). The word means “huckleberry” in Yakima, and is applied to a site on Yakima river just above Ellensburg.

4. +Skwa′nănă+, or Squannaroos (of Lewis and Clark). A Yakima word meaning “whirlpool,” and applied to a point on Yakima river about opposite the entrance of Selah creek, the village being on the west bank of the river. This band may possibly speak the language of the Ätanûm, a Shahaptian tribe, whose territory adjoins them.

5. +Qamĭl-‘lĕma+ or Kahmiltpah. The name is Yakima, and signifies “people of Qamĭ′lh.” Qamĭ′lh, or “Watching for Fish,” was a chief who formerly lived with his band about Saddle mountain, on the east side of the Columbia, above Priest rapids. They are called Kahmiltpah in the Yakima treaty of 1855. They now live with the other tribes last named in Kittitas county.

6. +Si′ăpkat+ or Seapcat. They reside now in Kittitas county, but probably lived originally at a place of the same name on the east bank of the Columbia, about Bishop rock and Milk creek, below Wenatchee river. They are called Seapcat in the Yakima treaty of 1855. The word is of the Piskwaus language.

+Yä′kĭmâ+ (Shahaptian stock).—_Synonyms_: Cutsahnim (Lewis and Clark), Eyackimah, Pa′‛kiut-‛lĕ′ma, Stobshaddat (by Puget sound tribes, _Tolmie_), Waptai′lmĭm, Yackamans, Yookoomans. The Yakima are the most important tribe of the Shahaptian stock, excluding the Nez Percés. They occupied the country of Natchess and middle Yakima rivers, in the present Yakima county, Washington, and are now on a reservation within the same county. Stevens says the name signifies “black bear” in the Wallawalla language, but Yakima informants state that it is a nickname signifying “coward” or “runaway,” and say that the proper name of the tribe is Waptai′lmĭm, people of the “narrow river,” or Pa′‛kiut-‛lĕ′ma, “people of the gap,” both names referring to the narrows in Yakima river at Union gap, near Yakima bridge. Their old village was on the west side of the river, just below the gap. They are the Cutsahnim of Lewis and Clark. This name may possibly come from the same root as Kû′tsano′t, “Lying Alongside,” the name of an old Yakima chief who died about 1880. In 1854, according to Stevens, they were “divided into two principal bands, each made up of a number of villages and very closely connected, the one owning the country on the Natchess and lower Yakima, the other on the Wenass and its main branch above the forks.” These latter, however, were chiefly of the Piskwaus connection. They had then several chiefs, of whom Kamaiakan was the most important. Like all the other Columbia tribes east of the Cascade range, they formerly crossed the Rocky mountains annually to hunt the buffalo on the waters of the Missouri. In 1855 the government made a treaty with the Yakima, Piskwaus, Pälus, and other tribes by which they were to cede a territory on both sides of the Columbia, extending generally from the Cascade range eastward to Palouse and Snake rivers, and southward from above Chelan lake to the Columbia, excepting a small portion between the Columbia and the lower Yakima. At the same time the Yakima reservation was established and an arrangement was made by which all the tribes and bands concerned were to be confederated under the title of the “Yakama Nation,” with Kamaiakan as head chief. Shortly afterward the Yakima war broke out, and the treaty remained unratified until 1859. As already stated, the Pälus and several other tribes have never recognized it or come on the reservation, and their objection to such removal has become a religious principle of the Smohalla doctrine. In the original treaty of 1855 fourteen tribes are named as participating, as follows: Yakama (Yäkima), Palouse (Pä′lus), Pisquouse (Pi′skwaus), Wenatshapam (another name for Piskwaus), Klikatat (Klûkatät), Klinquit (not identified), Kowwassayee (K′kasawi), Liaywas (not identified), Skinpah (Skinpä), Wish-ham (Wushqûm), Shyiks (not identified), Ochechotes (Uchi′chol), Kahmiltpah (Qamil′lĕma), and Seapcat (Si′apkat). Among these were represented at least six languages and three linguistic stocks. The majority of these Indians west of the Columbia, including the Yakima proper and others on the reservation, are Catholics, with also a number of adherents of the Shaker and Smohalla doctrines. Those on the reservation numbered 1,200 in 1892, with an estimated 1,500 outside the boundaries. Beside the principal band of Yakima, the Waptailmĭm already mentioned, there are also the Sĕ′tăs-‛lĕma, or “people of the rye prairie,” on Setass creek, a western tributary of the Yakima in the eastern part of the reservation, and the Pĭsko, or people of the “river bend,” in a village also on the south side of the Yakima, between Topinish and Setass creeks. (See _Pishquitpah_.) Their dialects are said to differ slightly from that of the Waptailmĭm.

+Ä′tănûm-‛lĕma+ (Shahaptian stock) or “people (_‛lĕma_) of Ätanûm creek.”—A small tribe on Atahnam creek, in Yakima county, Washington, on the northern boundary of the reservation. They are said to speak a language distinct from Yakima or Klûkatät, but cognate. They have no official recognition now or in the treaty of 1855. The name Ä′tănûm is Yakima, and refers to a stream “ascended” (by salmon).

+Klû’kătät+ (Shahaptian stock).—_Synonyms_: Clickahut, Clickitat, Klikatat, Qwû′lh-hwai-pûm, Weyehhoo, Whulwhypum. The name by which this tribe is commonly known is from the Wasko language and signifies “beyond (the mountain)”—that is, east of the Cascade range—with reference to the Chinookan tribes on the lower Columbia. The same name was also at times extended to the Yakima. They call themselves Qwûlh-hwai-pûm, “prairie people;” from _qwûlh-hwai_, “prairie,” and _pûm_, “people,” referring particularly to their occupancy of Camass prairie. They formerly occupied the southern slopes of Mount Adams and Mount Helens, with the country of Klikatat and Lewis rivers, in the present Klickitat and Skamania counties, Washington. East of them were the Yakima and west were the Salishan and Chinookan tribes. At one time they lived farther east, but were driven west by the Cayuse. (_Stevens._) About sixty years ago they crossed the Columbia and overran the Willamet country, and even penetrated as far south as the Umpqua, but afterward withdrew again to their proper country. Although but a small tribe, they were aggressive and enterprising and were the trade medium between the tribes west of the mountains and those east. They joined in the Yakima treaty of 1855 and are now chiefly on Yakima reservation, but a few are still on White Salmon river, in Klickitat county. Their number is unknown. The Taitinapam and Topinish speak the same language and may be considered as branches of this tribe.

+Qa′pnĭsh-‛lĕma+ or +Topinish+ (Shahaptian stock).—A small tribe on Topinish river in Yakima county, Washington, within the present limits of the reservation. They speak the Klûkatät language. The name signifies “people (_‛lĕma_) of the trail coming from the foot of the hill.”

+Taitinapam+ (Shahaptian stock).—_Synonym_: Tai-kie-a-pain (misprint). A small tribe speaking the Klûkatät language, formerly living on the western slopes of the Cascade mountains, between the heads of Lewis and Cowlitz rivers, in Skamania county, Washington, being the westernmost tribe of Shahaptian stock. If any are left, they are probably incorporated with the Klûkatät on Yakima reservation. They never had official recognition.

+Chämnä′pûm+ (Shahaptian stock).—_Synonyms_: Chimnahpum, Chimnapoos, Cuimnapum. A tribe which occupied the bend of the Columbia below Yakima river, together with the country on the lower Yakima, chiefly in the present Yakima county, Washington. They are the Chimnahpum of Lewis and Clark, and speak a dialect of the language of the Pä′lus and Wanapûm, with which tribes the few survivors are incorporated. A few are also still living on the west side of the Columbia, opposite Pasco. The name is of their own language and means “people (_pûm_) of Chämnä′,” their old village about opposite Wallula.

+Pishquitpah+ (Shahaptian stock).—This name occurs only in the narrative of Lewis and Clark as that of a tribe in 1805, “residing at the Muscleshell rapid and on the north side of the Columbia to the commencement of the high country, wintering on the borders of the Tapteal.” The Tapteal (properly Waptail or Waptailmĭm) is Yakima river. This would locate them in eastern Klickitat and Yakima counties, Washington. They are probably identical with the Pĭsko band of the Yakima. In the name Pishquitpah the final _pah_ is the Yakima or Pä′lus locative _pä_, “at.”

+K̔ka′săwi+ or +Kowwassayee+ (Shahaptian stock).—A small tribe speaking the Tenino language and formerly occupying a village of the same name, K̔ka′săwi, on the north bank of the Columbia, in Klickitat county, Washington, about opposite the mouth of the Umatilla. The full name is K̔ka′săwi-‛lĕ′ma, “people (_‛lĕma_) of the arrow-making place,” the local form being from _k̔ka′so_, “arrow.” They took part in the Yakima treaty of 1855 under the name of Kowwassayee, and are now on Yakima reservation.

+Hăhau′pûm+ or +Wahowpum+ (Shahaptian stock).—A small tribe speaking the Tenino language and occupying a village, Hăha′u, on the north bank of the Columbia, about the mouth of Olive creek, in Klickitat county, Washington. The word means “willow people,” from _hăha′u_, a species of willow, and _pûm_, “people.” They are the Wahowpum of Lewis and Clark. They have never had official recognition.

+Uchi′chol+ or +Ochechotes+ (Shahaptian stock).—A small tribe speaking the Tenino language, living now, or formerly, on the north bank of the Columbia in Klickitat county, Washington. They are mentioned as Ochechotes in the Yakima treaty of 1855, and may now be incorporated with other tribes on Yakima reservation. The name, from the Tenino language, signifies the “hind dorsal-fin” (of a salmon), and is the name of a rock on the north side of the Columbia, opposite the upper end of the island, at the mouth of the Des Chutes. See _Tapänäsh_.

+Skĭ′npä+ (Shahaptian stock).—_Synonyms_: Sawpaw (?), Skien, Skin, Skinpah. A small tribe speaking the Tenino language and formerly having a village on the north bank of the Columbia in Klickitat county, Washington, at the falls opposite Celilo. They took part in the Yakima treaty of 1855 under the name of Skinpah, and are now incorporated with the other tribes on Yakima reservation. The name is Tenino, and means “cradle place,” or “at the cradle,” from _skĭn_, “cradle,” and _pä_, the locative, and refers to a prominent rock at the site of their former village having some resemblance to an Indian cradle. See _Tapänäsh_.

+Täpanä′sh+ or +Eneeshur+ (Shahaptian stock).—A small tribe speaking the Tenino language, having a village on the north bank of the Columbia in Klickitat county, Washington, about opposite the mouth of Des Chutes river and a little above Celilo. The name is identical with the Eneeshur of Lewis and Clark, these explorers in 1805 having also included under this name the various bands speaking the Tenino language on both sides of the Columbia about the mouth of the Des Chutes. The Tapänäsh have no official recognition. See _Tenino_.

+Tlaqluit+ or +Wŭshqûm+ (Chinookan stock).—_Synonyms_: Echebool, Echeloot, Eloot, Helwit, Niculuita, Ouichram, Tchilouit, Tilhulhwit, Wisham, Wishham, Wishram, Wisswham. The Tlaqluit, with the Wasko, are the easternmost tribes of Chinookan stock on the Columbia, having immediately above them the Shahaptian tribes, speaking the Tenino language. The Tlaqluit territory lies along the north bank of the Columbia in Klickitat county, Washington, from Tenino, about 6 miles above The Dalles, down to the neighborhood of White Salmon river. They call themselves Tlaqluit (Echeloot of Lewis and Clark), and are called Wŭshqûmă-pûm, or “Wŭshqûm people,” by the tribes speaking the Tenino language, Wŭshqûm being the name of their chief village near South Side at The Dalles, the great fishing and trading resort for the tribes of this section. The name appears also as Wishram. Both Tlaqluit and Wŭshqûm refer to a species of louse or flea abounding in that neighborhood. They took part in the Yakima treaty of 1855 under the name of Wishham, but most of them have probably never gone on the reservation. See _Wasko_.

There is a tradition in the tribe that long before the coming of the whites to the Columbia a band of Tlaqluit left their people on account of a petty quarrel as to whether a goose made a certain noise with its bill or with its wings, and went up the Columbia and the Spokane, and are supposed to be now about the headwaters of the latter stream and still retaining their language, although under a different tribal name.

+Chilû′ktkwa+ or +Chilluckittequaws+ (Chinookan stock).—A tribe formerly extending along the north bank of the Columbia in Klickitat and Skamania counties, Washington, from about White Salmon river down to some distance below the Cascades. They are called Chilluckittequaws in 1805 by Lewis and Clark, who speak also of a separate band of the same tribe under the name of Smackshop, a name which can not now be identified. The tribe now numbers less than 100. Until recently the remnant lived about the mouth of White Salmon river, but removed about thirteen years ago to the Cascades. Their language is nearly the same as that of the Wasko. They have never had official recognition.

+Kwikwû′lĭt+ or +Dog River+ (Chinookan stock).—_Synonyms_: Cascade Indians, Kigaltwalla, Upper Chinook, Wahclellah, Watlala. A small tribe formerly living at the Cascades and about Dog river, a small stream coming into the Columbia about half-way between the Cascades and The Dalles, in Wasco county, Oregon. They are identical, in part at least, with the Wahclellahs of Lewis and Clark (mentioned as a part of the “Shahala nation”), and are the “Ki-gal-twal-la band of the Wascoes” and the “Dog River band of the Wascoes” of the Wasco treaty of 1855. The “Dog River or Cascade Indians” were reported to number 80 souls in 1854. In the next year they, with other tribes, entered into the Wasco treaty, by which they agreed to remove to Warmspring reservation, where some of them now are, while the others are still about the Cascades. Their language is nearly the same as that of the Wasko.

+Wasko+ (Chinookan stock).—_Synonyms_: Dalles Indians, Wascopum. A tribe formerly claiming the country about The Dalles, on the south bank of the Columbia, in Wasco county, Oregon. They, with the Tlaqluit on the opposite bank, are the easternmost extension of the Chinookan stock, and speak the same language. The name is said to be a Tenino word, meaning “grass,” or “grass people.” It has sometimes been made to include several cognate bands about The Dalles and Cascades, on both sides of the Columbia. Under the name of “The Dalles band of the Wascoes,” they entered into the Wasco treaty of 1855, and are now on Warmspring reservation in Oregon. They numbered 260 in 1892.

+Waiäm+ (Shahaptian stock).—_Synonyms_: (Lower) Des Chutes, Waiäm-‛lĕma, Wayyampa, Wyam. A tribe speaking the Tenino language and formerly living about the mouth of Des Chutes river, in the present Wasco and Sherman counties, Oregon. Their chief village was on the Columbia where Celilo now is, and was called Waiäm, whence their name of Waiäm-‛lĕma or “people of Waiäm.” They joined in the Wasco treaty of 1855 under the name of “Wyam or Lower Des Chutes band of Walla-Wallas,” and are now on Warmspring reservation in Oregon. Their number is not separately reported.

+Tai′-ăq+ (Shahaptian stock).—_Synonyms_: Taigh, Ta-ih, Tairtla, Tyich. A tribe speaking the Tenino language and formerly occupying the country about Tygh and White rivers, in Wasco county, Oregon. The name Tai′-ăq refers to the stream and denotes “muddy, white water.” They took part in the Wasco treaty of 1855 under the name of “Ta-ih or Upper Des Chutes band of Walla-Wallas,” and are now on Warmspring reservation, Oregon. Their number is not reported.

+Tĭ‛lqûni+ (Shahaptian stock).—A tribe formerly claiming the country between Tygh valley and Warmspring river, west of Des Chutes river, in the present Wasco county, Oregon. They are now on Warmspring reservation, in the same neighborhood. They have never been officially mentioned under their Indian name, and may be considered the Warmspring proper, although this name is local rather than tribal. They speak the Tenino language. See _Tenino_.

+Tenino+ or +Mĕli′-‛lĕma+ (Shahaptian stock).—The most important Shahaptian tribe of western Oregon. They formerly occupied middle Des Chutes river, and conquered the present Warmspring reservation from the Paiute or Snake tribes, but never occupied it until put there by the Wasco treaty of 1855. Since then they have been known indiscriminately as Tenino or Warmspring Indians, although this latter designation is commonly used to include other cognate tribes on the same reservation. For this reason it is impossible to give their number definitely. The Tenino language, in various dialects, is spoken, excepting by the Lohim, by all the tribes formerly living on both banks of the Columbia and on its tributaries from the country of the Wasko about The Dalles up to about the mouth of the Umatilla.

Most of this region, on the south or Oregon side of the Columbia, was formerly held by Shoshonean tribes of Paiute connection, which have been dispossessed by the Shahaptian tribes and driven farther back to the south. The only Shoshonean tribe which maintained its place on the Columbia was the Lohim, on Willow creek. The Tenino themselves conquered the present Warmspring reservation from the Snakes. The expulsion was in full progress when Lewis and Clark went down the Columbia in 1805, but had been practically completed when the first treaties were made with these tribes fifty years later. Lewis and Clark state that “on that (the south) side of the river none of the tribes have any permanent habitations, and on inquiry we were confirmed in our belief that it was from the fear of being attacked by the Snake Indians, with whom they are constantly at war. This nation they represent as being very numerous and residing in a great number of villages on the Towahnahiook (Wanwaui or Des Chutes), where they live principally on salmon, ... the first villages of the Snake Indians being twelve days’ journey on a course about southeast of this place.” In the appendix, after mentioning various bands of Snakes on Snake and Willamette rivers, they speak of the main body as “residing in the fall and winter on the Multnomah (Willamet) river, southward of the Southwest mountains, and in spring and summer near the heads of the Towahnahiook (Des Chutes), Lepage (John Day), Yaumalolam (Umatilla), and Wollawollah rivers, and especially at the falls of the Towahnahiook, for the purpose of fishing.” In the Wasco treaty of 1855 the Shahaptian tribes were recognized as owners of the whole country southward to the forty-fourth parallel, from the Cascade range east to the Blue mountains. See _Tapänäsh_.

+Tûkspû′sh+ or +John Day Indians+ (Shahaptian stock).—_Synonyms_: Dock-spus, John Day Rivers, Tûkspûsh-‛lĕma. A tribe speaking the Tenino language and formerly living along the lower part of John Day river, Oregon, having their principal village at the falls about 4 miles above the mouth. They are now on Warmspring reservation, and numbered 59 in 1892, with perhaps others off the reservation. Tûkspûsh is the name of John Day river in the Tenino language.

+Lohĭm+ or +Willow Creek Indians+ (Shoshonean stock).—A tribe living on Willow creek, in Gilliam and Morrow counties, Oregon. They are of Shoshonean connection, being the only Indians of this stock who have been able to maintain their position on the Columbia against the inroads of the Shahaptian tribes. They have never made a treaty with the government, and are generally spoken of as renegades belonging to the Umatilla reservation. In 1870 they were reported to number 114, but are not mentioned in the recent official reports.

+Cayuse+ or +Wailĕ′tpu+ (Waiilatpuan stock).—_Synonyms_: Cailloux, Kayuse, Shiwanish, Skyuse, Wailetma, Yeletpo Chopunnish (of Lewis and Clark). The Cayuse are a warlike tribe of distinct stock formerly occupying the mountain country on the heads of Wallawalla, Umatilla, and Grande Ronde rivers in Oregon and Washington, including the present Umatilla reservation. Further investigation may yet establish a linguistic connection with the Shahaptian tribes. The Molala, formerly on Molalla creek, west of the Cascades, are a separated band, of whose western migration the Cayuse and their neighbors still have a tradition. The Cayuse formerly bore a high reputation for intelligence and bravery, but on account of their fighting propensities, which led them to make constant war on the Snakes and other tribes to the west, they were never very numerous. In 1838 a Presbyterian mission, called Waiilatpu, had been established among the Cayuse, by Dr Whitman, where now is the town of Whitman, in Wallawalla county, Washington. In 1847 the smallpox, before unknown among them, carried off a large part of the tribe. The Cayuse, believing that the missionaries were the cause of it, attacked the mission on November 29, 1847, killed Dr Whitman and thirteen others, and destroyed the mission. As a matter of fact, there seems little question that the infection was brought into the country in supplies intended for the use of the mission or of emigrants temporarily stopping there. In 1854, according to Stevens, “the tribe, though still dreaded by their neighbors on account of their courage and warlike spirit, is but a small one, numbering, according to the census of 1851, only 126. Of these, individuals of the pure blood are few, the majority being intermixed with the Nez Percés and the Wallah-Wallahs, particularly with the former, to such a degree that their own language has fallen into disuse.” A few years ago only a few individuals, then living on Umatilla reservation, retained their old language. In 1855 they joined in the treaty by which Umatilla reservation in Oregon was set apart, and most of those remaining are now there, while a few others are with the Nez Percés at Lapwai. Joseph, the noted Nez Percé chief, is himself the son of a Cayuse father. In 1892 the Cayuse on Umatilla reservation were reported to number 391, but it is evident that most of these are mixed-bloods of other tribes, particularly the Umatilla. The name Cayuse is from the Nez Percé language. They call themselves Wailĕtpu. They are known to the Yakima as Wi′alĕt-pûm or Wai′lĕtma, and to the Tenino as Shiwanish, or “strangers from up the river,” a name extended also to the Nez Percés.

+Umatilla+ (Shahaptian stock).—_Synonym_: Utilla. A tribe formerly occupying the lower portion of the river of the same name, with the adjacent bank of the Columbia, in Oregon. They speak a distinct language of the Shahaptian stock. By the treaty of 1855 they agreed to go on Umatilla reservation in Oregon, where in 1892 they were reported to number 216. A large proportion of those now called Cayuse on the same reservation are Umatilla mixed-bloods.

+Wallawalla+ (Shahaptian stock).—_Synonyms_: Oualla-Oualla, Walawaltz, Wollawollah, Wollaw-Wollah. A tribe formerly occupying the country about the lower portion of the river of the same name and along the east bank of the Columbia from Snake river down nearly to the Umatilla, in Washington and Oregon. They take their name from the river, the word being said to refer to “rushing water.” Their language is said to resemble closely that of the Nez Percés. By the treaty of 1855 they agreed to go on Umatilla reservation, Oregon, where, in 1892, they were reported to number 474.

A small band of the same tribe, known to the Yakima as Walu′la-pûm, formerly lived on the west bank of the Columbia opposite the present Wallula. Their dialect is said to have been more akin to the Pä′lus language.

+Sahaptin+ or +Nez Percés+ (Shahaptian stock).—_Synonyms_: Chohoptins, Chopunnish (Lewis and Clark), Copunnish, Laaptin (misprint), Â′dal-k̔ato′igo, “people with hair cut across the forehead” (Kiowa name), Shi′wanĭsh (Tenino name, applied also to the Cayuse), Wa′pamĕtănt (Yakima name for the language). The Nez Percés are said to call themselves Sahaptin, and were named Nez Percés, or “pierced noses,” by the French from their former custom of wearing nose pendants. They are the most important tribe of the Shahaptian stock, and formerly occupied a large territory in eastern Washington and Oregon and central Idaho, bounded on the east by the main divide of the Bitterroot mountains, and including lower Grande Ronde and Salmon rivers, with a large part of the Snake and all of the Clearwater. The Wallowa valley, the disputed title to which led to the Nez Percé war, lies on a branch of the Grande Ronde, in Oregon. They had the Salishan tribes to the northeast, the Shoshonean tribes to the south, and the Cayuse, Wallawalla, and Pälus, with all of whom they are much intermarried, on the west and northwest. Almost all authorities give them a high character for bravery, intelligence, and honorable conduct traits which were strikingly displayed in the Nez Percé war.

Lewis and Clark traversed their country in 1805, and speak of them and some connected tribes under the name of Chopunnish, distinguished as follows: Chopunnish nation (about the present Lapwai reservation), Pelloatpallah band (the Pälus), Kimooenim band (on Snake river, between the Salmon and the Clearwater), Yeletpo band (the Cayuse), Willewah band (in Wallowa valley, afterward Joseph’s band), Soyennom band (on the north side of the upper Clearwater, in Idaho; these were really a part of the Pälus—the proper form is Tätqu′nma, whence Thatuna hills, referring to “a fawn” in the Pälus language, and was the name applied to their kamas ground about Camass creek), Chopunnish of Lewis river (on Snake river, below the Clearwater). In response to a request from the Nez Percés, who sent a delegation all the way to Saint Louis for that purpose in 1832, the first Protestant mission was established among them at Lapwai, Idaho, in 1837. Soon afterward they entered into relations with the government, and made their first treaty with the United States in 1855. By this treaty they ceded the greater portion of their territory, and were confirmed in the possession of a reservation including Wallowa valley. On the discovery of gold in the country, however, the miners rushed in, and in consequence a new treaty was made in 1863, by which they gave up all but the present Lapwai reservation in Idaho. Joseph, who occupied Wallowa valley with his band, refused to recognize this treaty or remove to Lapwai. This refusal finally led to the Nez Percé war in 1877, as already related. The main body of the tribe took no part in the war. After the surrender of Joseph his band was removed to Indian Territory, where the mortality among them was so great that in 1884 they were returned to the northwest. For several reasons, however, it was deemed unadvisable to settle them in the neighborhood of their old home, and a place was finally found for them in 1887 on Colville reservation in northern Washington. In 1892 there were 1,828 on Lapwai reservation and 138 on Colville reservation, a total population of 1,966.

+