SPOKANES. 69 



139. 



SE-LIM-COOM-CLU-LOCK, or RAVEN CHIEF. 



(Painted 1847.; 



Commonly called Ugly Head. Principal Chief of the Spokanes, 

 or Flat-IIeads, residing on the waters of the Spokane River. When 

 about to commence the painting of this portrait, the old chief made a 

 sign for me to stop, as he wished to give me a talk. He spoke near 

 an hour, and said that his people had always been friendly with the 

 whites — that some of the fii"st " long knives" that came to his country 

 had taken wives from among his women, and had lived among them 

 — they were his brothers — he had adopted the white man's religion, 

 and had used his influence to promote Christianity among his people. 

 Shortly after the butchery at the Wailetpu Mission, a rumour reached 

 the Spokanes that the Cayuses were coming to murder the families of 

 Messrs. Walker and Eels, missionaries located among them at Fishi- 

 makine. The old chief collected his people, and with their lodges 

 surrounded the mission, declaring the Cayuses should first murder 

 them. In the mean time, Messrs. Walker and Eels prepared them- 

 selves,, by barricading their houses, to resist the fate of their co- 

 labourers to the last extremity. At this exciting moment, a report 

 reached the Spokanes, that a number of their people residing in the 

 Willamette valley had been killed by the Americans, in retaliation 

 for the Wailetpu massacre. The young warriors collected for the pur- 

 pose of protecting Messrs. Walker and Eels from the hands of the 

 murderous Cayuses, now became clamorous, and were with great diffi- 

 culty restrained from spilling their blood themselves. The old chief 

 told them the rumour might be false ; and, by his influence and good 

 sense, the lives of these pious labourers in the cause of Christianity 

 were spared. 



Messrs. Walker and Eels were subsequently taken from the mission 

 to Fort Colville by the old chief, fearing the responsibility of protect- 

 ing them from the Cayuses and his own impetuous warriors, if the 

 rumoured death of their friends in the Willamette should prove true. 

 After remaining some weeks at Fort Colville, they were taken by a 

 company of Oregon volunteers to the settlements, where they still 

 reside. 



