ored to attach them to certain localities by teaching them farming. The latter was a more difficult task than the former, as the natives, particularly the Cayuses, affected to believe that they were doing a favor to Dr Whitman[1] by receiving his instruction, and frequently demanded pay for what they did for themselves, as well as for the use of the ground which he cultivated for the support of the Mission. Split-lip, a chief of the Cayuses who lived near the Waiilatpu Mission, was often most insulting in his demands, occasioning difficulties which would never have been settled but for the good offices of Pambrun of Fort Walla Walla, who was usually able to manage the natives through the influence of the Hudson's Bay Company, and the fear they had that if they exhibited hostility to white men who were friends of the company the trading posts would be withdrawn from their country.
The same state of affairs existed at Lapwai, except that Spalding exercised a more arbitary authority over the Nez Percés than Whitman could exert over the Cayuses, and established a system of laws, or rules of conduct, which rendered the natives liable to punishment for certain offences.
Though these laws were not without their advantages, yet, unless great discrimination was used in applying them, they were likely to breed mischief, as the following instance will show: A difficulty arose from the death of The Hat, the young chief who, while accompanying Gray to the States in 1837, was killed by the Sioux. The other two young chiefs, Blue Cloak and Ellis, who agreed to go with Gray, as I have before mentioned, turned back at the rendezvous, giving as a reason that the feet of their horses were sore, and that they would die upon the road. When they presented themselves in the autumn at Lapwai, Spalding, who had a quick temper, fearing for Gray's safety, and vexed at the failure of
- ↑ Whitman's letter, in Boston Miss. Herald, November 1840, 438.
