The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1877-07-20
THE PIERCED NOSES.
The Hakits and Peculiarities Of the Insurgsnt
Nez Perces.


The Nez Pelces Indians have received
their name from the fact that they are not
known to pierce their noses, just as the
Flathead Indians are so called because
they seldom fiatten their heads. In 1886
the American Board established mission
among them, but it was discontinued in
1847, after the murder of the Rev. Mr..
Whitman by the Cayuses. an sllied tribe.
Mr.. Whitman failed to cure, the Indians of
the measles, and, as, they had unlimited
faith in the skill of their medicine men, but
not much confidence in their morality,
they regarded Mr.. Whitman's failure as in
territorial and malicious. In the Oregon
Indian war they were friendly to the whites.
In 1857 they had 30 acres of ground under
cultivation, and manifested a disposition
to acquire the arts of civilized life. A
treaty was made with the tribe in 1854, but
part of the tribe refused to recognize it,
and never went on the reservation, which
includes the best lands in northwestern
Idaho and considerable area in northeast
ern Oregon, the two containing 1895
square miles, and in 1874 there were 1900
Indians on the reservation and on small
farms near by,an there were 900 more Nez
Perces in the Wallowa valley in eastern
Oregon. The Presbyterians had moved the
mission, and the Indians had 1900 acres
under cultivation, and horses and cattle
vaIraI 'o% Qt oR 0sn
In his work on the &c Native Races of the
Pacific Coast" Mr.. Fl. Fl. Bancroft gives
the Nez Perces credit for being compare
lively cleanly. They are not, he says, par
ticularly war-like, but ..-...-.
FIGHT BRAvELY AGAINST A FOREIGN FOE,
They torture captives little less than some
other Indians do, as they recognize the
convenience of slaves, and frequently stop
the torment before life is endangered. Their
favorite tactics consist of stealthy ap-
p1oach to the. enemy and an unexpected at
tack in the early morning. They have more
and better stock than many other tribes,
and it is only the poorest. families that do
not have horse for each member. children
included. When Nez Perce loses his wife
he cannot marry again for year, but there
is no law against his marrying just before
his wife dies, and so preventing an uncom-
Portable lnterregnum, and this he generally
does. Prostitution is almost unknown in
the tribes and when it occurs it is severely
punished. Like other Indians they are
passionately addicted to gambling, but
gamble chiefly over horse racing. They
are universal and incessant smokers, and
are distinguished by the habit of inhaling
the smoke.
THE WARRIORS
Overcome the spirit of fatigue by an elabo-
rate performance, which occurs annually.
and consists of running willow sticks into
their stomachs, taking alternate hot and
cold baths, and absta1ning from food. This
severe treatment is very naturally supposed
to discourage the spirit of fatigue from en-
tering the Indian. The steam bath is very
common among them. A hole is dug 10 the
ground, and rooted in with boughs covered
with earth. Only small hole is left in the
covering. The pit is filled with water
which is heated with hot stones. The In
dian crawls in through the hole. which is
closed up after him, and he stews ard suf-
locates, and sings till he thinks he is pretty
we'll done, when he crawls out and plunges
into the nearest mountain torrent or lake.
The medicine men are believed to have per-
feet power to cure or cause sickness, aud
are not responsible if their patients die. In
the other tribes of the Sahaptin family a
doctor seldom dies natural death, almost
his only hope of escape being to lay the
blame to the magic of rival practitioner,
but the Nez PeIces seldom kill their doc
tors
The Nez Perces are of medium height
and Of slender form. They are. in general,
healthy, but few of them attain great age.
The diseases they are most subject to are
scrofula, rheumatism, and sore eyes.
The Nez Perc Flatheads and Kootenais
are, according to Mr.. Bancroft,
RIVALS FOR THE BEST REGULATIONS.
Their good qualities are praised by priest,
trader and tourist. The Nez Perces women
do all the menial work, but are not other
wise badly treated. The members of these
tribes ARE onest,just, and often charitable.
They are ordinarily cold and reserved, but
sometimes sociable and almost gay. They
are quick tempered and revengeful under
what they regard injustice, but are readily
appeased by kind treatment, They are
cruel only to captive enemies, and are sto-
ical in the endurances of torture. They are
devotedly attached to home and family.
They are said to come as near as it is pos
sible for savages to come to the traditional
noble red man of the forest SO often depict
ed in the page of fiction.
The Nez Perces possess the country on
each side of the Lewis or Snake river, from
the Palouse to the Wapticacoes, about 100
miles, together with the tributary streams,
extending on the east to the foot of the
Rocky Mountains.
Hcw Indians Enjoy Summer.
Wa obaarva xzyifh corso af