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Show 90 REPORT OF THE BOARD OF INDIAN COMMISSIONERS. to the agency, and found Hon. A. B. Meecham, superintendent of Indian affairs for Oregon, and J. G. White, special commissioner, and many settlers from the surround-ing country. UMATILLA, August 7, 1871. The council convened this afternoon at 2 o'clock. On account of the absence of sev-eral important Indians it was decided only to arrange for the preliminaries of the council, hut to introduce no business until to- morrow. Hon. A. B. Meecham, president H. H. Neville, and A. Duffin were then sworn in as interpreters by United States Commissioner Mathew Davenport. Matthew Dav-enport was appointed secretary, J. C. Desoivary assistant secretary, and R. L. Lock-wood reporter. Mr. MEACHAM said : This is an important occasion for all these people, and we will ask Mr. Brunot to invoke God's blessing on the council. After prayer by Mr. Brunot, Rev. Father Vermeesch repeated the Lord's Prayer iu the Indian tongue, the Indians following him. Mr. MEACHAM. We do not propose to do any business to- day, but to arrange for busi-ness. Some of the Indian people are not here to- day. We fully realize the importance of this council to this people, and are not going to be in a hurry ; we want you to know that we come here as your friends, and have nothing bad in our hearts toward you ; we are here to stand between you and the white people. We have taken a solemn oath to be honest ; Major Couoyer is your agent ; you have known him for a longtime. Mr. White has been your trader, and you have also kno\ vn him for a long time. I have lived on the mountain, your neighbor, six years, and you all know me. We were ap-pointed commissioners by the President because you know us; we want all your peo-ple to be represented here before we proceed to business ; we have sent for Homily, chief of the Walla- Walla, to come, and we want Lalle Walla- Walla to come to- mor-row, and when you are all here we will open this business. We do not want to do business while some of the Indians are away, but when all are here we will show you our hearts, and keep back nothing ; you will not be hurried to do anything until you understand it well. Mr. Brunot, who sits here, came from Washington ; he was ap-pointed by the President of the United States, with eight other gentlemen ; they do not work for pay, they work from good hearts, because they want the Indians to get justice. Mr. Brunot is chairman of the committee; the other gentlemen are visiting Indians in other parts of the country. Mr. Brunot heard of you, and came to see you himself ; he wanted to see your country, and see whether the agents w^ ere all doing right, and the superintendent also. I want you to open your ears to the good words he has to say. He is a man who never drinks whisky, nor gambles, nor swears; he is a good man and talks with but one tongue ; he will tell you what he wants you to talk about. Mr. BRUNOT. I have come a long way to see you ; I have been to see the Sioux, Chey-ennes, and Arapahoes, in the east, and Warm Spring and Simcoe reservation on the west coast. Now I have come to see you, because the President wants to know about you from some one who has seen you with his own eyes. You hear a great many things about the President and about Washington ; some things are good and some are bad ; some men tell one thing, some another. The Presi-dent hears a great many things about the Indians ; some tell one thing and some an-other. I have come here to see you with my own eyes, and hear with my own ears what you say, and to talk words straight from the President, that you may know what he wants you to do, and I will carry back to him what you say. I am glad to see you and I want to see your reservation and your farms ; I want to know how many of you are doing right, and how many are doing wrong ; I want to tell those that are doing right that it is good, and it is the way the President wants them to go, and those who are. not doing right, who are gambling and running about the country, I want to tell them what is right. I want them to open their ears and try to do right. I heard an Indian say, ( not one of these,) " If you build me a house, inake a fence, and plant grain for me, I will be a farmer ; I don't want a little house, I want a big one." He wanted pigs, and chickens, and cows, and horses given him; do you think that is the way the Indians ought to do, to get to be like white men ? No. Did you ever see anybody do all these things for a white man f That is not the way to get rich, the ' only way is to work for it. The white man goes on the prairie, makes his fence, plows his ground, and builds a log house ; after a while he gets more and more property and builds a large house. If the Indians expect to get farms and houses without working they cannot do it any more than a white man can. If you want to get salmon do you sit down and wait for them to come into your wigwams? No; you make nets, and work to catch them. Now the President wants you to work so that you may get good homes. The agent will help you, and soon you will be comfortable. I . know some of you think you are more comfortable running about ; you do not care where you go; some of these chiefs know better than that; it is good to have one place, and they will always have one place to go to. But the wild Indians who have |