As it was the principal object of my tour to ascertain the character and condition of the Indians beyond the Rocky Mountains, their numbers, and the prospects of establishing the gospel among them, it will not only be proper but important to give a full and connected description of them in these respects. In doing this, while I have availed myself of information collected from men of intelligence and integrity, I have confined my statements to those things which have been corroborated by, or came under my own observations; feeling it a duty to avoid the many fabulous accounts which have been given of Indian character and customs. Romance may please and excite admiration, fiction may charm, but only truth can instruct.

     I will first describe the Indians of the plains. These live in the upper country from the Falls of the Columbia to the Rocky Mountains, and are called the Indians of the plains, because a large proportion of their country is prairie land. The principal tribes are the Nez Percés, Cayuses, Walla Wallas, Bonax, Shoshones, Spokeins, Flatheads, Coeur d'Aléne, Ponderas, Cootanies, Kettlefalls, Okanagans, and Carriers. These do not include probably more than one half of those east of the Falls, but of others I have obtained but little definite knowledge. They all resemble each other in general characteristics. In their persons the men are tall, the women are of common stature, and both are well formed. While there is a strong natural as well as moral resemblance among all Indians, the complexion of these is a little fairer than other Indians Their hair and eyes are black, their cheek bones high, and very frequently they have aquiline noses. Their hands, feet, and ankles, are small and well formed; and their movements are easy, if not graceful. They wear their hair long, part it upon their forehead, and let it hang in tresses on each side, or down behind.

     There is a great resemblance in the dress of different tribes, which generally consist of a shirt, worn over long, close leggins, with rnoccasons for the feet. These are of dressed leather made of the skins of deer, antelope, mountain goat and sheep; and over these they wear a blanket or buffalo robe. The borders of their garments are ornamented with long fringes. They are fond of ornaments, and their heads and garments are decorated with feathers, beads, buttons, and porcupine quills; these last are colored red, yellow, blue, and black, and worked with great skill and variety of design. They appear to have less of the propensity to adorn themselves with painting, than the Indians east of the mountains; but not unfrequently vermilion, mixed with red clay, is used not only upon their faces, but upon their hair. The dress of the women does not vary much from that of the men, excepting, that instead of the shirt, they have what we may call a frock coming down to the ankles. Many of them wear a large cape made of dressed skins, often highly ornamented with large oblong beads of blue, red, purple, and white, arranged in curved lines covering the whole. Some of the daughters of the chiefs, when clothed in their clean, white dresses of antelope skins, with their fully ornamented capes coming down to the waist, and mounted upon spirited steeds, going at full speed, their ornaments glittering in the sun-beams, make an appearance that would not lose in comparison with equestrian ladies of the east.

     Their horses are not less finely caparisoned with blue and scarlet trimmings about their heads, breasts, and loins, hung with little brass bells.

     While a want of cleanliness is a characteristic of all heathen, the Indians of the plains are less reprehensible than others, and far more neat than those of the lower country towards the Pacific. It is not to be understood that there are not those who are poor, suffering from the want of food and clothing.

     Their wealth consists in their horses, and their consequence depends in a great degree upon the number they possess, some owning several hundreds; and that family is poor whose numbers are not sufficient for every man, woman and child to be mounted, when they are traveling from place to place; and also to carry all their effects. In these respects they are far better supplied than any tribes I saw east of the mountains. While their horses are their wealth, they derive but little from them for the support of themselves and families; for they do not employ them to cultivate the earth; and the market for them is so low, that they command but a small price. A good horse will not sell for more than enough to purchase a blanket, or a few small articles of merchandize. For subsistence, they necessarily depend upon hunting and fishing, and gathering roots and berries. Their mode of cooking is plain and simple. Most of their food is roasted, and they excel in roasting fish. The process is to build a small fire in the centre of their lodge, to fix the fish upon a stick two or three feet long, and place one end in the ground so as to bring the fish partly over the fire, and then by a slow process it is most thoroughly roasted without scorching, or scarcely changing the color. The principal art consists in taking time, and our best cooks might improve by following their mode.

     The habits of Indians are said to be indolent. As a general remark it may be true, but I saw but very little to confirm its truth among the Indians of the plains; for I rarely saw any of these Indians not engaged in some object of pursuit; not the most productive perhaps, but such as enlisted their attention. While I believe that the resemblance, both physical and moral, of all the different nations and tribes of Indians, spread over large portions of the continent of America, is greater than is seen in any people of any other country of equal extent, yet if it is true, that as a general fact, "they are morose and gloomy in their countenances; sullen, or bacchanalian in their dispositions; that they are rarely so joyful as to laugh unless excited by ardent spirits; that they are taciturn and never indulge in mirth; that they are obtuse in sympathy, and destitute of social affections; that in proud disdain they turn away from whatever would excite curiosity; that no common motives or endearments excite them to action;" if these things are true, then the Indians in Oregon are an exception to the general fact. In all the above named particulars, I saw no special difference between them and other nations. As a part of the human family, they have the same natural propensities and the same social affections. They are cheerful and often gay, sociable, kind and affectionate; and anxious to receive instruction in whatever may conduce to their happiness here or hereafter. It is worse than idle to speak of "physical insensibility inwrought into the animal nature of the Indians, so that their bodies approximate to the insensibility of horses' hoofs." The influence of this kind of remark is to produce, in the bosoms of all who read them, the same insensibility that is charged upon the native character of the Indians. To represent their characters and their restoration to the common feelings of humanity so hopeless, is to steel the heart of even Christianity itself, if it were possible, against all sympathy, and to paralize all exertions and effort to save them from the twofold destruction to which they doom them, temporal and eternal. Is this the reason that Christians are sitting in such supineness over their condition, and that the heart-thrilling appeals for teachers to enlighten them are disregarded? Is this the reason, that while the philanthropy of the United States' citizens towards them is so widely blazoned, those who are sent to teach them the arts of civilized life, are sitting quiet on the borders in governmental pay, while the Indians are roaming still over the prairies in search of uncertain and precarious game? I forbear to tell the whole story.

     They have but few manufactures, and those are the most plain and simple, not extending much beyond dressing the skins of animals, and making them into clothing; making bows and arrows and some few articles of furniture. In dressing skins they never make any use of bark or tannin. Their process is to remove the hair and flesh from the skins by scraping them with a hard stone or wood, or when it can be obtained, a piece of iron hoop, and then besmearing them with the brains of some animal, they smoke them thoroughly and rub them until they are soft; and after this bleach them with pure white clay. Their mode of smoking them is to excavate a small place in the ground, about a foot deep, and over this to construct a fixture in the form of a lodge, a few feet wide at the base and brought to a point at the top. Then they build a small fire in the centre, and place the skins around upon the frame work, so as to make the enclosure almost smoke tight. The process occupies about one day. Their mode of dressing buffalo robes is different. They stretch the skin upon the ground, flesh side up, fastening it down with pins around the border, and then with an instrument formed somewhat like a cooper's adz, made of stone, or wood overlaid with a piece of iron, brought to a blunt edge like the currier's knife, they clear from it all remaining flesh, and let it thoroughly dry. After this, with the same instrument, they work upon it with a pounding, hewing stroke, until they have brought it to a suitable thickness and rendered it soft and white, as our buffalo robes are when brought into market. It is a work of great labor, and is performed by the women. We little think how much toil it costs a woman to prepare one of these robes, and then how little is paid for it by the purchaser; a pound of tobacco or a bunch of beads, is as much as the Indian generally receives.

     Their bows are made of the most elastic wood, strengthened with the tendons of animals glued upon the back side, and the string is made of the same substance. Their arrows are made of heavy wood, with one end tipped with a sharp stone or pointed iron, and the other pinnated with a feather. While the first is to pierce, the latter is to govern the direction. Their bows and arrows perform astonishing execution, and they manage them with great dexterity.

     Most of the cooking utensils, which they now use, are obtained from traders, and do not often extend beyond a brass kettle, tin pail, and a very few knives. They have bowls which they manufacture very ingeniously from the horns of buffalo; and sometimes, those that are larger and more solid, from the horns of the big horn mountain sheep. They have spoons of very good structure made of buffalo horns; also various kinds of baskets of rude workmanship. Their saddles are rude, somewhat resembling the Spanish saddle, having a high knob forward, and rising high on the back part; generally sitting uneasily upon the horse's back. Their bridles consist of a rope well made of the hair, or shag of the buffalo, eight or ten feet long, fastened in the centre to the under jaw of the horse, and the ends are brought over the neck for reins. The lasso, which is used for catching horses and some kinds of wild animals, is a long rope with a large noose at one end, and the other end is held firmly in the hand; the whole is coiled, and when the distance permits it to be thrown, it is usually so dexterously done, as to bring the noose over the animal's head. When mounted, they often have a long leather thong, or a rope, fastened upon the horse's neck, which trails upon the ground, and is frequently suffered to remain when the horse is turned loose, for the convenience of more easily catching him again.

     Their canoes, before they obtained iron hatchets of the traders, were, with great labor and patience, made with hatchets of stone; and even now, cost them no small effort. A canoe of good construction is valued as high as one or two good horses. Their fishing nets are another article which is well constructed, formed of wild flax; and in every particular like our scoop nets.

     As regards the religion of the Indians, I have already stated that they believe in one God, in the immortality of the soul, and in future rewards and punishments. But while these are the prominent points of their belief, definite ideas of a religious nature appear to be extremely limited, both in number and in comprehensiveness. As much as this, however, appears to be true. They believe in one Great Spirit, who has created all things, governs all important events, who is the author of all good, and the only object of religious homage. They believe he may be displeased with them for their bad conduct, and in his displeasure bring calamities upon them. They also believe in an evil spirit, whom they call cinim keneki meohot cinmocimo; that is, the black chief below, who is the author of all the evils which befall them, undeserved as a punishment from the Great Spirit above. They believe that the soul enters the future world with a similar form, and in circumstances like those under which it existed in this life. They believe that in a future state, the happiness of the good consists in an abundance and enjoyment of those things which they value here, that their present sources of happiness will be carried to perfection; and that the punishment of the bad will consist in entire exclusion from every source of happiness, and in finding all causes of misery here, greatly multiplied hereafter. Thus their ideas of future happiness and misery are found to vary according to their different situations and employments in life. It is difficult, if not impossible, to ascertain any thing of their religious belief beyond these general notions. The number of words and terms in their language expressive of abstract and spiritual ideas, is very small, so that those who wish to instruct them in these subjects, are compelled to do it by means of illustrations and circumlocutions, and the introduction of words from foreign languages. Besides, conscious of their ignorance, they are, for the most part, unwilling to expose it, by revealing the little knowledge which they possess. Indeed, wherever a feeling of ignorance upon any subject prevails, we find that all endeavors to elicit the true amount of knowledge, are repelled or evaded. Even men of talents, with us, who converse fluently upon most subjects, are often silent when religious topics are introduced.

     I am far from believing the many long and strange traditions, with which we are often entertained. It is more than probable, that they are in most instances the gratuitous offerings of designing and artful traders and hunters to that curiosity, which is ever awake and attentive to subjects of this description. The Indians themselves would often be as much surprised at the rehearsal of these traditions, as those are for whose amusement they are fabricated. My own opinion is confirmed by that of several gentlemen of integrity and veracity, who stand at the head of the Hudson Bay Company, who have long been resident in the Indian country, and have become extensively acquainted with their languages.

     The Indians west of' the great chain of mountains, have no wars among themselves, and appear to be averse to them, and do not enter into battle except in self-defense, and then only in the last extremity. Their only wars are with the Blackfeet Indians, whose country is along the east border of the Rocky Mountains, and who are constantly roving about in war parties, on both sides, in quest of plunder. When the Indians on the west meet with any of these parties, they avoid an encounter if possible, but if compelled to fight, they show a firm, undaunted, unconquerable spirit, and rush upon their enemies with the greatest impetuosity; and it is said that one Nez Percé, or Flathead warrior, is a match for three Blackfeet. The only advantage which the latter have over the former consists in their numbers, there being more than twenty thousand of the Blackfeet Indians. When an enemy is discovered, every horse is driven into camp, and the women take charge of them, while every man seizes his weapons of war, whatever they may be, mounts his horse, and waits firm and undismayed to see if hostilities must ensue. If a battle cannot be avoided, they rush forward to meet their foes, throwing themselves fiat upon their horses as they draw near, and fire, and wheel, and reload, and again rush full speed to the second encounter. This is continued until victory is decided, which is as often by the failure of ammunition, as by the loss of men. Very frequently, when the Blackfeet see white men with, the Nez Percés or Flatheads, they decline a battle, though far superior in numbers, knowing that the white men can furnish a large supply of ammunition; and in such cases they will raise a white flag, and come in to smoke the pipe of peace. The Nez Percé or Flathead chief, on such an occasion, will say "we accept your offer to smoke the pipe of peace, but it is not in ignorance that your heart is war, and your hand blood, but we love peace. You give us the pipe, but blood always follows."

     But these Indians are not without their vices. Gambling is one of the most prominent, and is a ruling passion which they will gratify to the last extremity. It is much practiced in running horses, and foot races, by men, women and children, and they have games of chance played with sticks or bones. When I told the Nez Percés that gambling is wrong, and a violation of the tenth commandment; for it is coveting the property of another, and taking it without an equivalent, as much as stealing; they said they did not know it before, but now they know God forbids it they will do so no more. Theft is generally supposed to be inbred in the Indians, but I was pleased to discover that the tribes of the plains held it in abhorrence, and would punish it severely should it occur. The Shoshones are said to be addicted to this habit in some degree. Drunkenness is a stranger vice among these nations, their remove from the sources of this evil being their security. It is not to be supposed that their virtue, any more than that of other tribes, would be invulnerable if exposed to temptation, for this habit, like their Proverbial love for finery and ornament, is acquired by the facilities for indulgence which are thrown in their way. The trader goes far into the interior with his packs of beads, buttons, paints, &c., to exchange for furs, and teaches this ignorant people to set the same value on his articles, that theirs are intrinsically worth--but who supposes that they would not know the comparative worth of more useful goods, if they were offered them?*
(* An attempt was made not long since, by an United States citizen, to construct a distillery on the Willamette river, but for want of suitable materials he failed in his object.)

     The moral disposition of these Indians is very commendable, certainly as much as that of any people that can be named. They are kind to strangers, and remarkably so to each other. While among them I saw no contentions, and heard no angry words from one to another. They manifest an uncommon desire to be instructed that they may obey and fulfil all moral obligations. Harmony and peace prevail in all their domestic concerns. But when they have any difficult subject, which they know not how to dispose of, they go to their chiefs, and if it involves any important principle, the chiefs bring the case to any white man, who may be among them, to obtain his opinion, which is generally followed. They are scrupulously honest in all their dealings, and lying is scarcely known. They say they fear to sin against the Great Spirit, and therefore, have but one heart, and their tongue is straight and not forked. And so correctly does the law written upon their hearts accord with the written law of God, that every infraction of the seventh command of the decalogue is punished with severity.

     I have witnessed but few things among them indicative of superstition. The practice of the Shoshones of cutting themselves for the dead, I have already mentioned. The Carriers burn their dead. When a person dies, all the relations must be assembled, which often occupies many days; and if a husband is deceased, the wife must lay her head upon the bosom of her husband every night, to show her affection for him; and when the funeral pile is constructed, the corpse laid upon it, and the fire enkindled, during the burning of the body, she must frequently put her hands through the flame and lay them upon his bosom, to show her continued affection. Their first chief lost his wife. He was asked if he would show the affection for her, which was required of others. He thought on account of his chieftainship he might be excused. The people were urgent, and he consented, but so great was the pain which he endured, that he was willing the practice should be ameliorated, and it is hoped it will soon be abolished.

     They have no unlucky days, but as a substitute for the white man's Friday, they have a portentous howling of a large wolf, which they call the medicine wolf. If they hear this when traveling, sadness is at once visible in their countenances, for it is considered as foreboding some calamity near.

     Among their superstitions may be classed their mode of curing diseases. They have what are called medicine* men, (*The word medicine, as used by Indians, signifies any thing mysterious.) who make no pretensions to any knowledge of diseases or skill in medicine; but they have a bag in which is deposited various relics. The patient is stretched upon the ground; a number of persons encircle him and sing the medicine song. The medicine man enters the circle and commences his magical incantations by holding the medicine bag over him, which is to operate as a charm; he uses many gestures, grimaces, and inarticulate sounds; pats or kneads the patient with his hands, beginning very softly, and gradually increasing to a considerable degree of severity; blows into his ears, and practices other like ceremonies. By this process the patient is often much fatigued, and thrown into a free perspiration, and his imagination is much excited. When the friction has been sufficiently employed, the imagination well wrought upon, and the medicine bag has invisibly imparted its virtues, the medicine man presents some trifling article, such as a small bone, a stick, or pebble, and says he has taken it from the body of the patient, and that it was the cause of the disease; or he gives a heavy puff upward, and says the disease has come out of the patient and gone upward, and then asks him if he does not feel better. The patient says yes; for he certainly feels better in being relieved from the process. And often the relief is permanent; for the friction may have been beneficial, and the imagination often performs wonders. The medicine man stands responsible for the life of his patient, and if the patient dies, not unfrequently his own life is taken by some of the relatives of the deceased. He makes a heavy charge for his services, often a horse, and why should he not? for who in such cases would endanger his life without being well paid? In some parts of the country, but more especially in the lower country, the lives of medicine men are short, and it would be supposed this would deter others from entering into the profession. But the love of fame and wealth is powerful among heathen as well as among civilized communities. Undoubtedly the medicine men, when they begin their profession, know that they are practicing deception, but by habitual deceit, by the confidence others place in their skill, and by the effects produced through the medium of the imagination, they finally believe in the efficacy of their own enchantments, and that they are consequential men.

     I have seen no "root doctors" in any tribe east or west of the mountains. The Indians, so far as I have had an opportunity of ascertaining, have but few diseases, and for the cure of these, they use but little medicine; nor do they profess to have any knowledge of remedies beyond a few specifics.

     The warm bath is used both by sick and healthy persons in the following manner. They construct a steam bath in the form of an oblong oven, two or three feet high, about six feet long, made of willow branches, each end inserted into the ground, forming an arch, which is covered with grass and mud, or more generally with skins. In this they place a number of hot stones, upon which they pour water. The person who is to go through the process, enters and is enclosed nearly air tight, and remains until a very profuse perspiration is produced, and often until nearly suffocated. He then comes out and plunges at once into cold water, and no regard is paid to the season of the year, whether summer or winter.

     They are wholly destitute of the means of obtaining an education, and therefore are ignorant of all the sciences. In things with which they are conversant, such as appertain to hunting, war, and their limited domestic concerns, they manifest observation, skill, and intellect; but beyond these their knowledge is very limited. They necessarily compute by numbers, but their arithmetic is entirely mental. It is an interesting fact, that of four different languages, which I examined, the mode of counting is by tens.

     The Klicatat nation count with different words up to ten, Lah's, one; neep't, two; and so to ten; then they add wappena to lah's; as lah's wappena, eleven; neep't wappena, twelve; neep't Lit, twenty; and in like manner to one hundred, and so on to a thousand by hundreds. In the Nez Percé language, non is one, lapeet, two, metait, three, &c. After ten they repeat the radical numbers with the addition, tit, as nontit, eleven; laapiit, twenty; metaptit, thirty. This may be a sufficient specimen for the four languages, as the other two proceed in the same manner.

     They count their years by snows; as, maika etaix, snows six, that is, six years; and months by moons, and days by sleeps; pinemeek pe-e-lep, sleeps four, (four days.) It is not common that they know their exact age; nor are they very accurate in chronology.

     They are very fond of singing, and generally have flexible and sweet-toned voices. Most of their singing is without words, excepting upon some special occasions. They use hi, ah, in constant repetition, as we use fa, sol, la; and instead of several different parts harmonizing, they only take eighths, one above another, never exceeding three. They are conscious of the inferiority of their tunes to ours, and wished to be instructed in this department of knowledge. In this land of moral desolations, it was cheering to hear even the most simple strains of melody and harmony.