The Cheyenne daily leader. [volume] (Cheyenne, Wyo.) 1870-1884, 1877-06-24
THE IDAHO INDIAN A



Indians, are so-called because they
seldom flatten their heads. In 1886 the
American board established Il mission
among them, but it was discontinued
in 1S47, after the murder of the Rev.
Mr.. Whitman by the Cayuses, an allied
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 intentional and
malicious. In the Oregon Indian war
they were friendly to the whites. In
1857 they had fifty acres Of ground
under cultivation, and manifested a
disposition to acquire the arts of civil
lied life. \ treaty was made with the
tribe in 1854, but a part of the tribe re-
fused to recognize it, and never went on
the reservations, which include the best
lands in northwestern Idaho and a
considerable area in northeastern
Oregon, the two containing nineteen
hundred and twenty-five square miles,
and in 1874 there were nineteen hun
bred Indians on the reservations and
on small farms near by, and there were
nine hundred more Nez Perces in the
Wallowa valley in eastern Oregon. The
Presbyterians had moved the mission,
and the Indians had eighteen hundred
acres under cultivation, and horses
and cattle valued at 1886, go.
In his work on the Native Races of
the Pacific Coast" Mr.. II. II. Bancroft
gives the Nez Perces credit for being
comparatively clearly. They are not,
he says, particularly war-like, but fight
bravely against a foreign foe7 They
torture captives a little less than other
Indians do, as they recognize the con-
venience of slaves, and frequently stop
the torment before life is endangered.
Their favorite tactics consist of a
stealthy approach to the enemy and an
unexpected attack 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 q horse
for each member, children included.
When Il Nez Perez loses his wife he
cannot marry again for a year, but
there is no law against marrying just
before his wife dies, and so preventing
an uncomfortable i~nterregnum, and
this he generally does. Prostitution is
almost unknown in the tribes, and
when it occurs it is severely punished.
Like ether Indians they are passion
ately addicted to gambling, but gamb-
ling chiefly YER horse-racing. They are
universal and incessant smokers, and
are distinguished by the habit of in
haling the smoke.
The warriors overcome the spirit of
fatigue by an elaborate performance,
which occurs annually, and consists of
running willow sticks into their stom-
achs, taking alternate hot and cold
baths, and abstaining from food. This
severe treatment is very naturally sup
posed to discourage the spirit of fatigue
from entering the Indian. The steam
bath is very common among them. A
hole is dug in the ground, and rooted
in with boughs covered with earth.
Only a small hole is left in the covering.
The pit is filed with water which is
heated with hot stones. The Indian
crawls in through the hole which is
closed up after him, and he stews and
~suffocates, and sings till he thinks he
is pretty well done when he crawls out
and plunges into the nearest mountain
torrent or lake. The medicine men are
believed to have perfect power to cure
or cause sickness, and are held respon-
sible if their patients die. In the other
tribes of the Sahaptin family a doctor
seldom dies q natural death, almost his
only hope of escape being to lay the
blame to the magic OF a rival practi-
TONER, but the Nez Perces seldom kill
their doctors.
The Ne2 Perces are of medium
/ height and of slender form. They are,
in general, healthy; but few of them at
tain TO great age. The diseases they
are most subject to are scrofula, rheu-
| matism and sore eyes.
The Nez Perces, Flatheads and Kort-
enais are, according to Mr.. Bancroft,
rivals for the best regulations. Their
good qualities are praised by priest,
trader and tourist. The Nez Perce
women do all the mental work, but are
not otherwise badly treated. The
members of these tribes are honest,
just. and often charitable. They are
ordinarily cold and reserved, but some
! times 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 stoical in the endurance to
torture. They are devotedly attached
to home and family. They are said to
come as near as it is possible for saw
ages to come to the traditional noble
red man of the forest so often depicted
in the page of fiction.
The Neg PerceS possess the country