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CHAPTER 32
Nez Perce camp - A chief with a hard name - The Big Hearts of the East - Hospitable treatment - The Indian guides - Mysterious councils - The loquacious chief - Indian tomb - Grand Indian reception - An Indian feast - Town-criers - Honesty of the Nez Perces - The captain's attempt at healing.
FOLLOWING THE COURSE of the Immahah, Captain Bonneville and his
three companions soon reached the vicinity of Snake River. Their
route now lay over a succession of steep and isolated hills, with
profound valleys. On the second day, after taking leave of the
affectionate old patriarch, as they were descending into one of
those deep and abrupt intervals, they descried a smoke, and
shortly afterward came in sight of a small encampment of Nez
Perces.
The Indians, when they ascertained that it was a party of white
men approaching, greeted them with a salute of firearms, and
invited them to encamp. This band was likewise under the sway of
a venerable chief named Yo-mus-ro-y-e-cut; a name which we shall
be careful not to inflict oftener than is necessary upon the
reader This ancient and hard-named chieftain welcomed Captain
Bonneville to his camp with the same hospitality and loving
kindness that he had experienced from his predecessor. He told
the captain he had often heard of the Americans and their
generous deeds, and that his buffalo brethren (the Upper Nez
Perces) had always spoken of them as the Big-hearted whites of
the East, the very good friends of the Nez Perces.
Captain Bonneville felt somewhat uneasy under the responsibility
of this magnanimous but costly appellation; and began to fear he
might be involved in a second interchange of pledges of
friendship. He hastened, therefore, to let the old chief know his
poverty-stricken state, and how little there was to be expected
from him.
He informed him that he and his comrades had long resided among
the Upper Nez Perces, and loved them so much, that they had
thrown their arms around them, and now held them close to their
hearts. That he had received such good accounts from the Upper
Nez Perces of their cousins, the Lower Nez Perce-s, that he had
become desirous of knowing them as friends and brothers. That he
and his companions had accordingly loaded a mule with presents
and set off for the country of the Lower Nez Perces; but,
unfortunately, had been entrapped for many days among the snowy
mountains; and that the mule with all the presents had fallen
into Snake River, and been swept away by the rapid current. That
instead, therefore, of arriving among their friends, the Nez
Perces, with light hearts and full hands, they came naked,
hungry, and broken down; and instead of making them presents,
must depend upon them even for food. "But," concluded he, "we are
going to the white men's fort on the Wallah-Wallah, and will soon
return; and then we will meet our Nez Perce friends like the true
Big Hearts of the East."
Whether the hint thrown out in the latter part of the speech had
any effect, or whether the old chief acted from the hospitable
feelings which, according to the captain, are really inherent in
the Nez Perce tribe, he certainly showed no disposition to relax
his friendship on learning the destitute circumstances of his
guests. On the contrary, he urged the captain to remain with them
until the following day, when he would accompany him on his
journey, and make him acquainted with all his people. In the
meantime, he would have a colt killed, and cut up for travelling
provisions. This, he carefully explained, was intended not as an
article of traffic, but as a gift; for he saw that his guests
were hungry and in need of food.
Captain Bonneville gladly assented to this hospitable
arrangement. The carcass of the colt was forthcoming in due
season, but the captain insisted that one half of it should be
set apart for the use of the chieftain's family.
At an early hour of the following morning, the little party
resumed their journey, accompanied by the old chief and an Indian
guide. Their route was over a rugged and broken country; where
the hills were slippery with ice and snow. Their horses, too,
were so weak and jaded, that they could scarcely climb the steep
ascents, or maintain their foothold on the frozen declivities.
Throughout the whole of the journey, the old chief and the guide
were unremitting in their good offices, and continually on the
alert to select the best roads, and assist them through all
difficulties. Indeed, the captain and his comrades had to be
dependent on their Indian friends for almost every thing, for
they had lost their tobacco and pipes, those great comforts of
the trapper, and had but a few charges of powder left, which it
was necessary to husband for the purpose of lighting their fires.
In the course of the day the old chief had several private
consultations with the guide, and showed evident signs of being
occupied with some mysterious matter of mighty import. What it
was, Captain Bonneville could not fathom, nor did he make much
effort to do so. From some casual sentences that he overheard, he
perceived that it was something from which the old man promised
himself much satisfaction, and to which he attached a little
vainglory but which he wished to keep a secret; so he suffered
him to spin out his petty plans unmolested.
In the evening when they encamped, the old chief and his privy
counsellor, the guide, had another mysterious colloquy, after
which the guide mounted his horse and departed on some secret
mission, while the chief resumed his seat at the fire, and sat
humming to himself in a pleasing but mystic reverie.
The next morning, the travellers descended into the valley of the
Way-lee-way, a considerable tributary of Snake River. Here they
met the guide returning from his secret errand. Another private
conference was held between him and the old managing chief, who
now seemed more inflated than ever with mystery and
self-importance. Numerous fresh trails, and various other signs,
persuaded Captain Bonneville that there must be a considerable
village of Nez Perces in the neighborhood; but as his worthy
companion, the old chief, said nothing on the subject, and as it
appeared to be in some way connected with his secret operations,
he asked no questions, but patiently awaited the development of
his mystery.
As they journeyed on, they came to where two or three Indians
were bathing in a small stream. The good old chief immediately
came to a halt, and had a long conversation with them, in the
course of which he repeated to them the whole history which
Captain Bonneville had related to him. In fact, he seems to have
been a very sociable, communicative old man; by no means
afflicted with that taciturnity generally charged upon the
Indians. On the contrary, he was fond of long talks and long
smokings, and evidently was proud of his new friend, the
bald-headed chief, and took a pleasure in sounding his praises,
and setting forth the power and glory of the Big Hearts of the
East.
Having disburdened himself of everything he had to relate to his
bathing friends, he left them to their aquatic disports, and
proceeded onward with the captain and his companions. As they
approached the Way-lee-way, however, the communicative old chief
met with another and a very different occasion to exert his
colloquial powers. On the banks of the river stood an isolated
mound covered with grass. He pointed to it with some emotion.
"The big heart and the strong arm," said he, "lie buried beneath
that sod."
It was, in fact, the grave of one of his friends; a chosen
warrior of the tribe; who had been slain on this spot when in
pursuit of a war party of Shoshokoes, who had stolen the horses
of the village. The enemy bore off his scalp as a trophy; but his
friends found his body in this lonely place, and committed it to
the earth with ceremonials characteristic of their pious and
reverential feelings. They gathered round the grave and mourned;
the warriors were silent in their grief; but the women and
children bewailed their loss with loud lamentations. "For three
days," said the old man, "we performed the solemn dances for the
dead, and prayed the Great Spirit that our brother might be happy
in the land of brave warriors and hunters. Then we killed at his
grave fifteen of our best and strongest horses, to serve him when
he should arrive at the happy hunting grounds; and having done
all this, we returned sorrowfully to our homes."
While the chief was still talking, an Indian scout came galloping
up, and, presenting him with a powder-horn, wheeled round, and
was speedily out of sight. The eyes of the old chief now
brightened; and all his self-importance returned. His petty
mystery was about to explode. Turning to Captain Bonneville, he
pointed to a hill hard by, and informed him, that behind it was a
village governed by a little chief, whom he had notified of the
approach of the bald-headed chief, and a party of the Big Hearts
of the East, and that he was prepared to receive them in becoming
style. As, among other ceremonials, he intended to salute them
with a discharge of firearms, he had sent the horn of gunpowder
that they might return the salute in a manner correspondent to
his dignity.
They now proceeded on until they doubled the point of the hill,
when the whole population of the village broke upon their view,
drawn out in the most imposing style, and arrayed in all their
finery. The effect of the whole was wild and fantastic, yet
singularly striking. In the front rank were the chiefs and
principal warriors, glaringly painted and decorated; behind them
were arranged the rest of the people, men, women, and children.
Captain Bonneville and his party advanced slowly, exchanging
salutes of firearms. When arrived within a respectful distance,
they dismounted. The chiefs then came forward successively,
according to their respective characters and consequence, to
offer the hand of good fellowship; each filing off when he had
shaken hands, to make way for his successor. Those in the next
rank followed in the same order, and so on, until all had given
the pledge of friendship. During all this time, the chief,
according to custom, took his stand beside the guests. If any of
his people advanced whom he judged unworthy of the friendship or
confidence of the white men, he motioned them off by a wave of
the hand, and they would submissively walk away. When Captain
Bonneville turned upon him an inquiring look, he would observe,
"he was a bad man," or something quite as concise, and there was
an end of the matter.
Mats, poles, and other materials were now brought, and a
comfortable lodge was soon erected for the strangers, where they
were kept constantly supplied with wood and water, and other
necessaries; and all their effects were placed in safe keeping.
Their horses, too, were unsaddled, and turned loose to graze, and
a guard set to keep watch upon them.
All this being adjusted, they were conducted to the main building
or council house of the village, where an ample repast, or rather
banquet, was spread, which seemed to realize all the
gastronomical dreams that had tantalized them during their long
starvation; for here they beheld not merely fish and roots in
abundance, but the flesh of deer and elk, and the choicest pieces
of buffalo meat. It is needless to say how vigorously they
acquitted themselves on this occasion, and how unnecessary it was
for their hosts to practice the usual cramming principle of
Indian hospitality.
When the repast was over, a long talk ensued. The chief showed
the same curiosity evinced by his tribe generally, to obtain
information concerning the United States, of which they knew
little but what they derived through their cousins, the Upper Nez
Perces; as their traffic is almost exclusively with the British
traders of the Hudson's Bay Company. Captain Bonneville did his
best to set forth the merits of his nation, and the importance of
their friendship to the red men, in which he was ably seconded by
his worthy friend, the old chief with the hard name, who did all
that he could to glorify the Big Hearts of the East.
The chief, and all present, listened with profound attention, and
evidently with great interest; nor were the important facts thus
set forth, confined to the audience in the lodge; for sentence
after sentence was loudly repeated by a crier for the benefit of
the whole village.
This custom of promulgating everything by criers, is not confined
to the Nez Perces, but prevails among many other tribes. It has
its advantage where there are no gazettes to publish the news of
the day, or to report the proceedings of important meetings. And
in fact, reports of this kind, viva voce, made in the hearing of
all parties, and liable to be contradicted or corrected on the
spot, are more likely to convey accurate information to the
public mind than those circulated through the press. The office
of crier is generally filled by some old man, who is good for
little else. A village has generally several of these walking
newspapers, as they are termed by the whites, who go about
proclaiming the news of the day, giving notice of public
councils, expeditions, dances, feasts, and other ceremonials, and
advertising anything lost. While Captain Bonneville remained
among the Nez Perces, if a glove, handkerchief, or anything of
similar value, was lost or mislaid, it was carried by the finder
to the lodge of the chief, and proclamation was made by one of
their criers, for the owner to come and claim his property.
How difficult it is to get at the true character of these
wandering tribes of the wilderness! In a recent work, we have had
to speak of this tribe of Indians from the experience of other
traders who had casually been among them, and who represented
them as selfish, inhospitable, exorbitant in their dealings, and
much addicted to thieving; Captain Bonneville, on the contrary,
who resided much among them, and had repeated opportunities of
ascertaining their real character, invariably speaks of them as
kind and hospitable, scrupulously honest, and remarkable, above
all other Indians that he had met with, for a strong feeling of
religion. In fact, so enthusiastic is he in their praise, that he
pronounces them, all ignorant and barbarous as they are by their
condition, one of the purest hearted people on the face of the
earth.
Some cures which Captain Bonneville had effected in simple cases,
among the Upper Nez Perces, had reached the ears of their cousins
here, and gained for him the reputation of a great medicine man.
He had not been long in the village, therefore, before his lodge
began to be the resort of the sick and the infirm. The captain
felt the value of the reputation thus accidentally and cheaply
acquired, and endeavored to sustain it. As he had arrived at that
age when every man is, experimentally, something of a physician,
he was enabled to turn to advantage the little knowledge in the
healing art which he had casually picked up; and was sufficiently
successful in two or three cases, to convince the simple Indians
that report had not exaggerated his medical talents. The only
patient that effectually baffled his skill, or rather discouraged
any attempt at relief, was an antiquated squaw with a churchyard
cough, and one leg in the grave; it being shrunk and rendered
useless by a rheumatic affection. This was a case beyond his
mark; however, he comforted the old woman with a promise that he
would endeavor to procure something to relieve her, at the fort
on the Wallah-Wallah, and would bring it on his return; with
which assurance her husband was so well satisfied, that he
presented the captain with a colt, to be killed as provisions for
the journey: a medical fee which was thankfully accepted.
While among these Indians, Captain Bonneville unexpectedly found
an owner for the horse which he had purchased from a Root Digger
at the Big Wyer. The Indian satisfactorily proved that the horse
had been stolen from him some time previous, by some unknown
thief. "However," said the considerate savage, "you got him in
fair trade--you are more in want of horses than I am: keep him;
he is yours--he is a good horse; use him well."
Thus, in the continued experience of acts of kindness and
generosity, which his destitute condition did not allow him to
reciprocate, Captain Bonneville passed some short time among
these good people, more and more impressed with the general
excellence of their character.
Content of CHAPTER 32 [Washington Irving's book: The Adventures of Captain Bonneville]
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