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Show 106 REPORT OF THE BOARD OF INDIAN COMMISSIONERS. law, ( the treaty.) Stevens spoke about the ground. From that talk my body grew up. That is why you have come to us naming three countries. You came to hear that good word. That is the way your bodies grew on this earth. That is the way our children take care of this word. From this word both of our bodies are as they are. There is nothing more to be said on this subject. LALLES. Look at these Indians; take a good look at them. I am a poor Indian. This being takes care of both our hearts. By this being I mean the President, It is only his heart talks on this ground. I am fond of this ground on which we both stand. That is why we have to carry good hearts and say nothing that i$ bad on this ground. What I said I spoke to your hearts, and we will speak straight. That is the way we will open our hearts, and we will be all right on this ground. That is why I ask you, my friends, for your hearts to be slow. YOUMA- HOWLISH. I understand very truly what you have been saying about the land. You are talking to all the Indians that are on this ground. Now we question you about what you have said to us about this land. I do not want you to ask me for my country. You have shown me just the same as if it were $ 2F> 0 in money. I want you to pay this land first, then I will not have anything more to say after you pay this land, because I follow this land. HOM- I- LI. We have looked upon you for six days with our hearts. The heart is difficult to arrange, as it were. It is hard for the heart to get hold of anything and keep, and I have, as it were, tried all the reservation in my heart and it cannot he loosened, just, as we take care of our bodies carefully. My friends, you see your children growing outside the reserva-tion. They are growing well, and I think they ought to grow out there just where they are. That is the reason, my friends, my body is growing. My cattle and stock are running on this reservation, and they need all of it. Some good white men look at us and see our lands and they say this is right they need all that country for their stock. You that came from Washington, Mr. Meecham and all of you, I want you to know this is my heart. There is Mr. Couoyer; he stands, as it were, in the middle. He takes care of both sides, and the father stands in the middle looking out for both sides, so you can see ho\ v I am, as if I had opened my heart for you to see it, and Mr. White has known my heart for many years. So my friends, as I have shown you my heart, that is the way I wish you to look at it. I wish my words to be carried to the President, just as I have opened my heart. I can see that is not the white man who has helped me ; I have done all myself made all the improvements on my own land. I will speak to you. my friends, with a good heart, with love. I hope the President, though he is a long way off, will look at my heart, just as if 1 had laid it open to him. You, my friend, ( Brunot, ) see my face?' you see how I have been speaking; I want you to present my heart to the President. Mr. Conoyer will report what de.-. ires the Indians may have hereafter, and so will Mr. White, and the father, and some time hereafter they will write and let the President know ; and you, Mr. Meecham, will be coming here often, and you will find out my heart hereafter. I wish to say I want just the room 1 have. I intend to build a fence to join Mr. Wlute's farm. I am talking for everything. Here we are to grow our children, our stock and everything. I would be afraid if Mr. Couoyer and the Father were not here to look after me, as I do not know when the whites would come on our reservation, but with them here I feel perfectly safe. I am showing my heart plainly. I look over among the white men ; I see some ahead of the others, and I know why it is. Mr. MEACHAM. We have your answer that was one proposition. The other proposition was, whether you want to have each man's home set apart, under the treaty of Stevens and Palmer. I need not talk about that. Do you want your laud set apart to each man, accord* ing to the treaty ; then each man owns what he has in possession, and what Is not set apart is held in common. If any man wants his land surveyed and set apart, let him stand up and say so. HOMI- LI. I said I did not want my land divided, and if we changed our mind we could say so. I spoke for all the others, and they don't want to say anything more. Mr. MEACHAM. We have said all that is proper to say about the council. Have you any-thing more to say about it? The chiefs said they had nothing more to say; if so, we will consider the council at an end. Mr. Brunot has something to say ; you will listen well. SPEECH OF MR. BRUNOT. I want to say two or three things to you before you go away this evening. You know that what I say comes right from my heart, and I want it to go in at your ears, and into your heart, and I want you to keep it there. I have said but little at this council, nd I want you to hear what I now say to you. The President is far away, but he has heard from some men at Umatilla one thing, from other men other things. He has heard that some of the white men want the Indians to go away from the reservation that they may come and live on the lauds themselves, and from others, that they do not want the Indians to go away. Some told him the Indians wanted to sell their reservation, and others that, you did not want to sell it. So he told Congress, and Congress made the law which was read to you. Then the President appointed Mr. Meacham. Mr. White, and Mr. Conoyer to come here and ask |
