416 INDIAN TRIBES OF WASHINGTON TERRITORY. 
sionaries unprotected, and proving an obstacle to effectual labor. They have at the station a 
village of log-houses, but notwithstanding generally prefer their own lodges. Their great chief 
is Kwi-kwi-kal-sih, or Victor, a man highly spoken of by the whites who have come in contact 
with him. The tribe, in fact, seem to be an exception among the Indians of Oregon. Their 
heroism in battle, their good faith towards others, and their generally inoffensive conduct, have 
been the theme of praise both from priest and layman. They are, however, rapidly disappearing 
before the murderous warfare of the Blackfeet. Should their country become a thoroughfare of 
travel, they will, to some degree at least, be protected from their enemies; but, on the other hand, 
the destruction of the buffalo and other game will render some new mode of subsistence an object 
of proper care on the part of the government. 
The Kootenaies or Kitunahas, and the Flatbows, who now, according to Father De Smet, form 
one tribe, called by their neighbors Skalza, or Skolsa, inhabit the country extending along the 
foot of the Rocky mountains, north of the Flatheads, for a very considerable distance, and are 
about equally in American and in British territory. They do not enter into the census of the Oregon 
superintendent, and they have had no intercourse with the whites except through the Fur Com- 
pany. Captain Wilkes states their number at about 400. Their usual camp is situated in the 
Tobacco plains, where they were visited in 1845 by Father De Smet, who gives a description of 
their country. 
The Nez Perces, or Saptin, lie to the south of the Selish, and on both sides of the Kooskooskia 
and north fork of Snake river. 
Their country, like that of the Wallah-Wallahs, extends into both Oregon and Washington 
Territories. They are one of the most numerous of all these tribes, amounting, according to the 
census of 1851, to 1,880; since when there has probably been less decrease than among some of 
the others. 
They are much intermarried with the Wallah-Wallahs, whose language belongs to the same 
family, and also with the Cayuses. They have no chief of note at present living; Towwattu, or 
the “ Young Chief,” having recently died. 
Wailatpu, or Cayuse: The country belonging to this tribe is to the south of and between the Nez 
Perces and Wallah-Wallahs, extending from the Des Chutes or Wawanui river to the eastern side 
of the Blue mountains. It is almost entirely in Oregon, a small part only, upon the upper Wal- 
lah-Wallab river, lying within Washington Territory. The tribe, though still dreaded by their 
neighbors, from their courage and warlike spirit, is but a small one, numbering, according to the 
same authority, 126. Of these, individuals of the pure blood are very few; the majority being 
intermixed with the Nez Perces and Wallah-Wallahs—particularly with the former—to such a 
degree that their own language has fallen into disuse. 
It was this tribe that destroyed Dr. Whitman’s mission in 1847. Their head chief, Pa, or the 
“Five Crows,” bas since then generally absented himself from his people, as, although not con- 
cerned in the murder, he became notorious for the abduction of one of the women. These are all 
the tribes which enter into the Territory east of the mountains, except that a small remnant of the 
original tribe belonging at the Cascades of the Columbia river still exist. They are of the Upper 
Chinook nation. From their geographical situation, they will fall within the eastern district ; and 
as the Klikatats frequent the fishery there, it would be desirable to comprehend them with the 
latter. 
It would be interesting to give a reliable comparison of the Indian population at the different 
periods since their intercourse with the whites; but the data from which this could be drawn are 
too uncertain to furnish satisfactory conclusions. Messrs. Lewis and Clark give the earliest in- 
“formation respecting them. 
Their journey, however, permitted only very loose conjectures on the subject, and their division 
of the tribes is with difficulty to be recognised at present. The following, however, appears to 
be the arrangement, and it is so far intelligible as to render it certain that their locations have not 
materially changed within that time. 
