Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1913-09-05
1onterey, Va. Friday, Sep. 5 1871
FROM THE LAND OF NEE PERCES.
(BY MISS LULA s. WALLACEJ
Continued from last week.


For the past two years | have
visited the encampmert % th'
Christian Indians on Mason suite.
This year | decided to visit the
wild Indian, or heather Indian eli
campment near Lapwai. SO, Oh
the morning of the 4th of July al
party of us drove up to LapWm,
fourteen miles from here, in al auto
The road was fine, the weather
lovely, and the ride was most en-
ioyable one. We passed through
the celebrated Tammany country
famed for it's fine farming lands;
for miles. and miles it rolls away on
every side without a tree, coVefet
with wheat, barley or alfalfa AWAY
TO the South was the Graz
mountain country, the land of the
big yellow pines; to the east wet
the walls of the Snake River can
yon- 1t was a magnificent scene.
When we got to Lapwai, the &c.
ebration by the whites was IN 1ull
swing, the inevitable reading OF the
declaration of independence, the
school children's songs and chorus
the spread eagle oratory, etc.,
soon got tired of that; and as one
of my friends was as anxious as
to see the Indian encampment, W.
left the main crowd and walked a
mile North to their encampmenl
in a meadow on Lapwai Greek.
Black Eagles tent, the chief OF the
Nez Perces since Chief Joseph
death was set back from the el,
campment in q grove of cottonwood
trees; it was cut off from the com
mon herd by a hedge of small pine
trees set close together. A u. /.
flag was flying from the top of tbt
tent. and his insignia, large black
eagle, was painted on the canvas Of
his tent.
Each year the heather Nez Per-
ces meet here for their annual war
dance, usually lasting from ten
DAYS to two weeks. 1t is a religious
rite with them and they do not
wish for visits from the white peo-
pie. These dances are looked upon
with much disfavor by the christian
element of the Nez Perces tribe,
and they do everything i'll thel
power to put it down, and have
succeeded to a certain extent. This
wear, though, they had a grs atel
number at their dance than for sew
oral wears. The Indians come from.
different parts of Idaho, Washing
ton and as far away as Montana.
Nv friend and l did not think the,
liked our being there, but we con-
cluded we would stay until the toIc
us to leave. Some of the squaNs
would push right rudely against Us
but we could not catch their eye,
nor when we would attempt tt
speak to them would they reply.
They would shake tn ir heads as
though they did not understand,
but / caught them laughing whei'
my friend said, They do not un-
derstand," so l feel sure they III
derstood us. After the men finish
ed eating, which l thought they
never would do, the women who
had been serving them, and the
young girls and boys and the old
women sat down and ate. | just
wondered if the men would wait Oh
them, but they did, throwing down
the great pans of boiled meat on
the table cloths and as these In
dams do, old and young eat until
one would think they would die,
but after eating they will fall down
anywhere and steep like the seven
sleepers. The provisions, consisting
of fresh beef, mutton, salmon,
bakers bread, fresh cherries, cam
ed buckle berries, coffee and water
were spread out on red table cloths
and oiicloth and dirty, whitish cot
ton clothes, and at the first table
the men sat and Toasted. Every |
now and then one of the men would |
spring to his feet, and with much
gesticulation, would make a lengthy
harangue; as they kept pointing to
us, and looking angry, l imagined
that a good part of their speeeh'|
concerned us. as for quite a while
, we were the only whites in the en-
campment. Most of the womenl
are nearly drawn double with rheu-
matisn, and hobble around with
two sticks, or leaning on the arm
o. some relative. The old men are
almost as bad looking as the squaws
l suppose it is due to their way OF
living, for | saw some splendid |
looking old men last summer at the
christian encampment.
When we entered the encamp-
ment, the Indians had just sat
down to dinner ia the big commun-
ity tent. All the different families
-