OCR Text |
Show 148 , KATIVE TRIBES. Tie native tribes with whom we came in contact in the valley were the most. degraded and $ he lowest in the scale of being of any I had ever- seen- * They consisted of thfe « root- diggers," $ class of Indians which seemed tt> be composed of. outcasts from their respective tribes, Subsisting chiefly upon roots dug from the ground, and the seeds of various plants indigenous to thfe soil, which they grind into a kind of flour between two flat Atones. Lizards and crickets also form a portion of their food. At certain seasons of the year they obtain, from the tributaries of bott the Salt Lake and Lake Utah, a considerable quantity of fish, which they take in weifs or traps, constructed of willow- bushes. Those that we Baw were branches from the Shpshonees or Snakes, and from . the large and Warlike tribe of Utahs, which latter inhabit a Wge tract of country to the southward. They are known among the traders by the designation of " snake- diggers," and " Utes;" those of the latter tribe, which inhabit the vicinity of the lakes and streams and live chiefly on fish, being distinguished by the name of « Pah Utahs," or " Pah Utes,"-- the word Pah, ip' their " language, signifying water. While engaged in the survey of the Utah Valley, we were no little fchnoyfcd by numbers of the latter tribe, who hung arotuid the camp, crowding'around the • cook- fires, more like hungry doga than human beings, eagerly watching for the least scrap that might be thrown away, which they devoured with avidity and without the least preparation. The herd& meh also complained that their cattle . were frequently Scattered; and that notwithstanding their utmost - vigilance, several of them had unaccountably disappeared and were-lost. One morning, a fine fat ox came into camp with an arrow buried in his side, which perfectly accounted for the disappearance of the others, i After the party left Lake Utah for winter quarters in Salt Lake ' City, the Indians became more insolent, boasting of what they had done- driving off the stock of the inhabitants in the southern settlements, resisting ajl attempts to recover them^ and finally firing upon the people ihemselves, as they issued from their little stockade to attend to. their ordinary occupations. Under these circumstances, the Settlers in . the Utah Valley applied to the supreme government, at Salt Lake Qity, f6r counsel as to the proper course of action. The president was at . first extremely averse to the adoption of harsh measures; but, after several conciliatory overtures had been resorted to in vain, he very properly determined to |