, 1889-03-14
gard TO the reported sinking Of the United
States warship Nipsic.
THE KOOTKNAI INDIANS.

Facts About the Flathsad Country and
the Tribes which Inhabit 1t.
A letter from Egan. Missoula county,
Montana. to the Helena Independent,
says:
suffers serious drawbacks by the wide cir
culation OF such alarming and entirely un-
founded reports Of Indian warfare as have
recently been published, the writer will
give . short description of the Indian
tribe which inhabits it.
The kootenai Indian tribe. or Sansa, as
they call themselves, came originally from
Tobacco Plains, a country about eighty
Ave miles north Of here. According to
tradition this was the cradle Of the race;
here they remained until local disturb.
ances caused the removal at different
times Of clans, and they gradually drifted
northward, until they claimed the entire
country almost to Kicking Horse pass on
the Canadian Pacific. At the time Of the
! advent of the white man among them
they had possession of the country referred
TO. with the addition of Bonner's feery
country on the Kootenai river, the Flat
head lake country and portion OF the re.
servation belonging to and now occupied
ostensibly by o small band under the con-
troll of Chief Aeneas. They are peculiarly
brave and daring, and have known ages
ern Blackfoot nei9hbors, who. vastly
greater in numbers, swarmed down on
them from the mountain passes and at
times fairly threatened their extermina-
tion. Often the tide of bate was In their
favor, and the Blackfeet we're pursued
across the mountains, into their own wide
prairies. According to the earliest Koo-
tenai traditions these wars have periodi.
cally disturbed the friendly relations of
4 lxc ALL -A olkhnnnh thay ll,y
held possession of their country against
the Blackfeet it was often times at great
sacrifice Of life.
The worst aspect Of the Kootenai Indians
character, and in fact nearly all other In.
dians, is their belief in duality of ex-
istence, one mortal and used in every
day life. the other possessing the attributes
of spirit force and invulnerable. This
works great deal of harm to Indian
tribes coming IN contact with tie whites,
as they, believing IN the absolute impos.
force. are eager for contest in which they
can reap oil the glory of war without
danger to themselves. This supposed i'm
munity from danger with increased power
of inflicting injury on the foe is particu.
larly fascinating to q young warrior who
has never tried his "medicine." and is
anxious to verify the belief OF an ignorant
fatalism. This superstition was the cause
of the late trouble with the Crows. whom
Sword Bearer, 'inviucihle," harrangued
until large number of young braves
started on the war path. Happily, in this
case, Sword Bearer was soon killed, and
his followers. concluding that their spirits
were weak, succumbed to the military.
Strange as it may seem, nothing can
overcome this superstition. Their reason.
ing is unanswerable; il the person sur.
wives. his spirit took possession Of the
bones and tissue, endowing them with its
own indestructible nature; but If death
was his portion, the spirit. being angry,
had forsaken the house of clay and the
the missile or knife found q mortal victim.
Reason is powerless against such arbitrary
conclusions. This belief, in which the
Kootenais are particularly strong, has de-
veloped in them an utter indifference to
death.
The freqnent recurrence OF the medicine
dances does much to keep alive old feelings
Of hatred and revenue. 1t is during these
performances that the dormant race hatred
face, and, famed by burning recitations
of past glories and pantomimic battles
with their white foes, it oftentimes turns
it to such a white heat of passion that it
either finds vent in stealthy murder or
open warfare. This is practically true of
nearly all the western lndi ms. However
the Kootenais have been so isolated from
the whites in the past that the opportuni-
ty of widespread carnage was hardly
possible. as they confined themselves to
occasional robbery and murder.
As regards the immediate danger OF the
Flathead country from the ravaRes of the
small remnant of kootenais bordering
here there is no occe sion for alarm, the
whites outnumberin0 them ten TO one and
being far better armed than the savages
The entire number of the Kootenai war
riors will not exceed 255, and these are
scattered over country measuring, from
one extreme to the other, over 300 miles
and settled throughout with a sufficien
der anything like favorable circum
stances.
Taken as a whole, they are vefy poorl.
propensities keeping them too poor to af
ford good guns.
The feeling among the Indians at pres
ent is anything but belligerent. The ex
ample that was made of the two murderer
year ago had very salutary effect o
the entire tribe. The aggressive and q
times openly insulting demeanor Of tn
young braves before that time has sine
changed to one of almost cur-like de
meanor.
Knowing nearly every Indian in th
Kootenai tribe and speaking the lanRuae
thoroughly, the writer feels warranted i
saying that there is no danger of an on
break or of any organized disturbanc,
The only danger TO the community is thu
ever present inevitable one. which a
! places similarly situated suffer-the evil
OF the whisky traffic and the lawlessne
i OF reckless young Indians. Nor indee
: can this valley ever expect to be free fro
!. these evils as long rs the Indians ha,