INDIAN TRIBES OP WASHINGTON TERRITORY. 409 



Hudson s Bay Company, and the most intelligent free trappers of Oregon, had satisfied me 

 that none sueh existed in the country. During an examination of the lower Yakima, however, 

 the old Indian guide who accompanied me pointed out, on the left bank, a work which may 

 possibly be considered as belonging to the same system, although being, so far as is known, 

 a solitary one, it is somewhat questionable. 



The work consists of two concentric circles of earth about three feet high, with a ditch be 

 tween. Within are about twenty cellars situated without apparent design, except economy of 

 room. They are some thirty feet across and three feet deep, and the whole circle eighty 

 yards in diameter. We had no time to examine it more particularly, and no tools to excavate. 

 The ground was overgrown with arternisia bushes, but, except the form of the work, there was 

 nothing to attract particular attention, or lead to the belief that it was the remains of any other 

 than a Yakima village. Our guide, however, who was great authority on such matters, de 

 clared that it was made very long ago, by men of whom his people knew nothing. He added 

 that there was no other like it. It is well posted for defence in Indian warfare, being on the 

 edge of a terrace about fifteen feet high, a short distance from the river, and flanked on either 

 side by a gully. 



Outside of the circle, but quite near it, are other cellars unenclosed, and in no way differing 

 from the remains of villages frequently met with there. The Indian also pointed out, near by, 

 a low hill or spur, which in form might be supposed to resemble an inverted canoe, and which 

 he said was a ship. It deserves investigation, at least, whether any relation can be traced be 

 tween the authors of this and of the mounds in Sacramento valley, yet occupied by existing 

 tribes. In this connexion may also be mentioned a couple of modern fortifications erected by the 

 Yakimas upon the Simkwe fork. They are situated between two small branches upon the sum 

 mit of a narrow ridge, some two hundred yards long, and thirty feet in height, and are about 

 twenty-five yards apart. The first is a square, with rounded corners, formed by an earthen 

 embankment capped with stones, the interstices between which serve for loop-holes, and with 

 out any ditch. It is about thirty feet on the sides, and the wall three feet high. The other 

 is built of adobes in the form of a rectangle, twenty by thirty-four feet, the walls three feet 

 high and twelve to eighteen inches thick, with loop-holes six feet apart. Both are com 

 manded within rifle-shot by neighboring hills. They were erected in 1847, by Skloo, as a de 

 fence against the Cayuses. We did not learn whether they were successfully maintained, 

 accounts varying greatly on this subject. In the same neighborhood we noticed small piles 

 of stones raised by the Indians on the edges of the basaltic walls which enclose these val 

 leys, but were informed that they had no purpose they were put up through idleness. Simi 

 lar piles are, however, sometimes erected to mark the fork of a trail. At points on these walls 

 there were also many graves, generally made in regular form, covered with loose stones to pro 

 tect them from the cayotes, and marked by poles decorated with tin cups, powder-horns, and 

 articles of dress. During the summer the Indians, for the most part, live in the small valleys 

 lying well into the toot of the mountains. These are, however, uninhabitable during the winter, 

 and they move farther down, or to more sheltered situations. The mission, which in summer is 

 maintained in the Atahnam valley, is transferred into that of the main river. There are two 

 priests attached to this mission, belonging to the order of the Oblats, Fathers Pandozy and 

 d Harbomey. The stations are small log buildings, divided into a chapel and lodging-room, 

 with a corral for horses and a spot of enclosed garden ground adjoining the one at Atahnam. 

 The fathers informed us that they found the Yakimas not very teachable, and that they had 

 accomplished little except as peacemakers; the Indians were lazy and cultivated the ground 

 with but little regularity, some years not planting at all. They did not believe that a resident 

 farmer would be of use. The Indians, however, say, and justly, that they have no tools, and 

 but little inducement to labor, their country affording other subsistence, and the toil of planting 

 with their own rude implements not being compensated by the result. With proper encourage- 

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