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Show REPORT OF THE BOARD OF INDIAN COMMISSIONERS. 127 APPENDIX A d, No. 3. TULALIP RESERVATION. MINUTES OF A COUNCIL HELD AT THE TULALIP RESERVATION, WASHINGTON TERRITORY, BY COMMISSIONER FELIX R. BRUNOT. COUNCIL AT TULALIP RESERVATION, Washington Territory, August 28, 1871. Tulalip Reservation is situated on a beautiful bay of the same name running into the mainland from Possession Inlet, an arm of Puget Sound. There is but little of the land at present under cultivation, as it is of a very poor quality ; but an extensive beaver marsh, if drained, would provide all those desiring it with good homes. The reservation is well wooded, and many of the Indians are engaged in logging, some on their own and others on reservation account. The Indians are well dressed and industrious, and some of them speak English. The boarding- school, in which are forty- seven boys and girls, is in a very good condition. August 28. A council was held with the Indians of this reservation at 10 a. m., meeting in front of the trading- house. There were present Hon. F. R. Brunot, chairman of the board of Indian commissioners, and his secretary ; General S. J. McKinney, superintendent of Indian affairs for Washington Territory ; . Father Chirouse, superintendent; Napoleon, the chief, and all the minor chiefs and young men ; the employe's, and a large number of the men arid women of the tribe. Before the council opened, Napoleon, the chief, reminded them that be was the only one left of the old men who took part in the treaty with Governor Stevens ; all the others had passed away. On opening the council Mr. Brunot said : My friends, many of us were at church yester-day, because it was God's holy day, and we went to worship Him. It is our duty to serve Him on all days. He knows we are dependent on Him for all we have. When the white men meet for good counsel we ask God to keep us and bless us in what we do and say. I will ask Mr. Cree to pray to God. Mr. dee then led in prayer, all devoutly standing. Mr. BRUNOT. I heard an Indian say that the white man has two religions. In one way it looks so ; but if you understand you will see that it is only one. We all believe in the same God and the same Lord Jesus ; and we all believe that we are to be saved by Him. If you all want to go to Seattle, some would go around one side of the island, some would go by the other side, you would all meet there, and you would know that some had only taken a little different way in which to go. We are all going to the same God and the same heaven, and if in earnest we will all meet there at last. But if an Indian started to Seattle and he turned in at Muckleshoot, or some other place where he got drink, we would know he had not gone the right way. So a white man or Indian may say he is trying to go to heaven; but it he drinks whisky, has two or three wives, and is bad, he will never get there. My friends, the President at Washington hears a great many things about the Indi-ans on the sound. He wants to know exactly about them from some one straight from them who has seen them. He sent me here. I did not come to make any treaty. There will be no more treaties ; the last one was made by Governor Stevens. I have come that I might see what reservation they laid out for you. I have come to see if in all these ye-. rs since the reservation was laid out, you have done anything to improve the lands on it; what im-provement has been made in you, and to see whether you will be able to take care of yourselves when the time of the treaty is up; to see, if you have not done right in the nt, whether you want to do so now ; and I want to hear what words you have to say. ant to tell you that more than half the years of the treaty are gone. Look back at what is gone. When the treaty was made there were many Indians around the sound ; there were many old men, young men, and children. There are not near so many now as there were then. When that treat} 1 was made there were not many white men ; now they are much more numerous, and yet the white men are only just beginning to come. Before the treaty is up there will be a hundred white men where there is one now. Why do the Indians die out and while men increase? Is it not because the whites and the Indians live differ-ently ? You young men and women here can see the difference. Do you want the Indians to be all gone in a few years ? I think not. The President does not want them to be destroyed. The great white chiefs in the cities do not want it. It is only bad men who want your land, who wish you to be destroyed. Now I want to know if you Indians will help the bad whites who want you to die out, or the President who wants you to increase ? If you want your race not to die out, you must live like good white men. I am glad to see so many of you are trying; but still, when I see so many who are not trying, I feel sorry. You think now you have not been helped as much as you ougfht to have been. Some of the agents sent by the Great Father in times past have not done right. You think some things have been promised that you did not get; that is so, and I know it is wrong. The President thinks those things that are bad in the past he cannot help ; but he wants to help von if you will do right in the future. I want to see all of you make up your minds hereafter as to what is right, and to try and get all the other Indians to do right. You never |