CHAPTER XXIX

THE WALLA WALLA COUNCIL

Nez Perces arrive--Savage parade--Head chief Hal-hal-tlos-sot or Lawyer, an Indian Solon--Cuyuses, Walla Wallas, Umatillas arrive--Pu-pu-mox-mox--Feasting the chiefs--Fathers Chirouse and Pandosy arrive--Kam-i-ah-kan--Four hundred mounted braves ride around Nez Perce camp--Young Chief--Spokane Garry--Palouses fail to attend--Timothy preaches in Nez Perce camp--Yakimas arrive--Commissioners visit Lawyer--Spotted Eagle discloses Cuyuse plots--Council opened--Treaties explained--Five thousand Indians present--Horse and foot races--Young Chief asks holiday--Pu-pu-mox-mox's bitter speech--Lawyer discloses conspiracy of Cuyuses to massacre whites--Moves his lodge into camp to put it under protection of Nez Perces--Governor Stevens prepares for trouble--Determines to continue council--Invites Indians to speak their minds--Lawyer favorable--Kam-i-ah-kan scornful--Pathetic speech of Eagle-from-the-Light--Steachus wants reservation in his own country--General Stevens's tent flooded--Lawyer accepts treaty--Young Chief and others refuse--Governor Stevens's pointed words--Separate reservations for Cuyuses, Walla Wallas, and Umatillas--Sudden arrival of Looking Glass--His indignation-- Orders Nez Perces to their lodges--Night conference with Yakimas--Stormy council--Lawyer goes to his lodge--Kam-i-ah-kan, Pu-pu-mox-mox sign treaties--Lawyer's advice--Nez Perces and Cuyuses counsel by themselves--Lawyer's authority confirmed-- Last day of treaty--Both tribes sign--Eagle-from-the-Light presents his medicine, a grizzly bear's skin, to Governor Stevens--Satisfactory ending great relief--Delegations to Blackfoot council--Nez Perce scalp-dance--Treachery of other tribes--Outbreak--Compelled to live under treaties--Provisions of treaties--Benefits of council--Present prosperity 34