72 FORT CONFIDENCE. 



pox and measles with them, which, spreading among 

 the populous and warlike Kaiyuses or Black-feet, 

 cut off many of the tribe. By the Indian moral 

 code, the death of their brethren was to be revenged 

 by the slaughter of people from whom the injury 

 came, and as it was sufficient if the victims were 

 of the same nation with the offenders, the Kaiyuses 

 fell upon the nearest and most defenceless. A 

 missionary and his family, to the number of twelve 

 persons, were cut off, and their property and some 

 women and children seized. Through the inter- 

 ference of the Hudson's Bay Company's Governor 

 at Fort Vancouver, the captives were redeemed, 

 but five hundred of the inhabitants of Oregon 

 marched to chastise the Indians. The paper says, 

 " the thunders of war have commenced ; let them 

 be continued until American property and American 

 life shall be secure upon American soil." We after- 

 wards learnt that the demonstration had little effect 

 upon the Indians, who, being well provided with 

 horses, shunned the encounter, or returned to harass 

 the Oregon army at their pleasure. Sooner or 

 later, however, the Kaiyuses will feel the strong 

 arm of the white man, and be compelled to cede 

 their native lands to the emigrant hordes that are 

 pressing westward. 



As the crow flies the distance between Fort 

 Vancouver on the Oregon and Fort Confidence 



