the Indians to Dr Whitman to be forwarded to the United States, he turned back to the Columbia River, determined to take the sea route home.
No longer lacking for time, he decided to make further explorations for mission stations, and noted with favor the upper part of the Walla Walla Valley as a site for an establishment, the only objection to it, in his mind, being that it was not central for the Nez Percés, Cayuses, and Walla Wallas, to whom he had promised a mission. "How easily," he says, "might the plough go through these valleys, and what rich and abundant harvests might be gathered by the hand of industry. But even now the spontaneous growth of these vast plains, including millions of acres, yields
these religious services,' says Bonneville, 'probably derived from the white men, the tribes above mentioned mingle some of their old Indian ceremonials; such as dancing to the cadence of a song or ballad, which is generally done in a large lodge provided for the purpose. Besides Sundays, they likewise observe the cardinal holidays of the Roman Catholic church.' Irving's Bonneville's Adventures, 389–90. Says John Wyeth, who also gives these savages a good character: 'I know not what to say of their religion. I saw nothing like images, or any objects of worship whatever, and yet they appeared to keep a sabbath, for there is a day on which they do not hunt nor gamble, but sit moping all day, and look like fools. There certainly appeared among them an honor, or conscience, and sense of justice. They would do what they promised, and return our strayed horses and lost articles.' Oregon, 54. Townsend was equally struck with the religious character of the Nez Percés and Cayuses, and after describing their family worship, concludes by saying: 'I never was more gratified by any exhibition in my life. The humble, subdued, and beseeching looks of the poor untutored beings who were calling upon their heavenly father to forgive their sins, and continue his mercies to them, and the evident and heart-felt sincerity which characterized the whole scene, was truly affecting, and very impressive.' Nar., 107. Elijah White, in a letter to the Oregon Spectator of November 12, 1846, says: 'Indeed, the red men of that region would almost seem to be of a different order from those with whom we have been in more familiar intercourse.' Parker himself often remarked upon the reverence and attention with which the Flatheads and Nez Percés listened to his devotional exercises, in which they joined with an intelligence that surprised him. The effect of the teaching they had some time had was apparent in the exhibition of that hospitality, care for others, and general good conduct to which he often referred. On one of his journeys with these people he says: 'One sabbath day about eight in the morning, some of the chiefs came to me and asked where they should assemble. I asked them if they could not be accommodated in the willows which skirted the stream of water on which we were encamped. They thought not. I then inquired if they could not take the poles of some of their lodges and construct a shade. They thought they could; and without any other directions went and made preparation, and about eleven o'clock came and said they were ready for worship. I found them all assembled, men, women, and children, between four and five hundred, in what I would call a sanctuary of God, constructed with their lodges, nearly one hundred feet long, and about twenty feet wide; and all were arranged
