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Show EEPORT OF THE BOARD OF INDIAN COMMISSIONERS. 87 nimity expressed their determination not to sell their lands at any price, or to con-sent, upon any terms, to leave the reservation, which the Government had by the treaty marked out for their occupation. HOVYLISII- WAM- PO, the Cayuse chief, a Catholic Indian, in dress, personal appear- : inc', and bearing, superior to the average American farmer, said: " You talked with a oood heart when you told me that you believed in God. I thought that was good ; that is my heart too, while I stand upon this ground." And after enumerating the promises of Governor Stevens and the treaty unfulfilled, he said in regard to the proposition of the commissioners : " What yon have spoken this people have heard ; all understand what you have said. You came Dere to ascertain what is our mind. This reservation is marked out for us. We see it with our eyes, and our hearts, we all hold it with our bodies and with our souls. Right out here are my father and mother, and brothers and sisters, and children, all buried : I am guarding their graves. My friend, this reservation, this small piece of land, we look upon it as our mother, as if she were raising us. You come to ask me for any land. It is like as if we, who are Indians, were to be sent away and get lost. I look upon all sides. On the outside of the reservation I see your houses, they have windows, they are good. You are bringing up your children well. What is the reason you white men who live near the reservation like my land and want to get it. You. must not think so. My friends, you must not talk too strong about getting my land. I like my land, and will not let it go. You have been asking my heart about the reser-vation. This is my heart." HOM- LI ( chief of the . Walla- Wallas) said: We have looked upon you for six [ days with our hearts. The heart is as it were difficult to arrange, and I have tried all the reservation in my heart, and it cannot be loosened. It is dear as our bodies to us. My friends, you see your children growing outside the reservation. They are growing well, and I think they ought to grow out there, just where they are. My cattle and stock are running on this reservation, and they need it all. Some good white men look at us, and see our land, and they say this is right ; they need that country for their stock. I see it is not the white man who has helped me ; I have made all the improvement on my own land myself. I 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 I had laid it open to him. You, my friend, ( to Mr. Brunot,) see my face ; you see how I have been speaking ; I want you to present my heart to the President. WENAP- SNOOT ( chief of the Umatillas) said : Our red people were brought up here and some one had to teach them as they grew. Those who were taught grew up well ; I believe the man who understands and follows the way he is taught grows np well. I learned from the way in which I was brought up, and am going to have my children taught more and they will grow up better than I am. When my father and mother died, I was left here. They gave me rules, and gave me their land to live upon. They left me to take care of them after they were buried. I was to watch over their graves. I do not wish to part with my land. I have felt tired working on my land, so tired that the sweat dropped off me on the ground. Where is all that Governor Stevens and General Palmer said ? I am very fond of this land that is marked out for me, and the rest of the Indians have no more room for their stock than they need, and I do not kuow where I'd put them if I had to confine myself to a small piece of ground ; should I take only a small piece of ground, and a white man sit down beside me, I fear there would be trouble all the time. PIERRE, one of the younger chiefs, said : I am going to make a short speech. I have only one heart, one tongue, although you say, " Go to another country." My heart is not that way. I do not wish for any money for my land ; I am here, and here is where I am going to be. I think all these young men's hearts are like mine; I think a great deal, and have but little to say. What I have said will go on paper to Washington. There they will think over what we Indians have said ; this is all I have to say. I will not part with lands, and if you come again, I will say the same thing, I will not part with my lands. WAL- CHE- TK- MA- XK, said : Listen to me, you white chiefs, you are my friends, and you ( to Rev. Father Vermeerch) are the one who straightens out my heart. My father and mother and children have died ; I am getting old now, and I want to die where my father and mother and children have died ; I do not wish to leave this land and go off to some other land. 1 see the church there, I am glad to see it, and I think I will stay beside it, and die by the teachings of the Father. I see where I have sweat and worked in trying to get food. I see the flour- mill the Government has promised, I see my friends. I like all that I have and I cannot go away from here. What the whites have tried to show me, I have tried to learn. It is not much, but I have fenced in a small piece of laud and try to raise grain on it. I am showing you my heart. The President will see the record, and know what we poor men have said in this council. I love my church, my mills, my farm, the graves of my parents and children. I do not wish to leave my land, that is all my heart and I show it to you. All the Indians who spoke expressed the same views both in regard to removal and |