148 NATIVE TKIBES. 



The native tribes with whom we came in contact in the valley 

 were the most degraded and the lowest in the scale of being of 

 any I had ever seen. They consisted of the "root-diggers," a 

 class of Indians which seemed to be composed of outcasts from 

 their respective tribes, subsisting chiefly upon roots dug from the 

 ground, and the seeds of various plants indigenous to the soil, which 

 they grind into a kind of flour between two flat stones. Lizards 

 and crickets also form a portion of their food. At certain seasons 

 of the year they obtain, from the tributaries of both the Salt Lake 

 and Lake Utah, a considerable quantity of fish, which they take 

 in weirs or traps, constructed of willow-bushes. Those that we 

 saw were branches from the Shoshonees or Snakes, and from the 

 large and warlike tribe of Utahs, which latter inhabit a large 

 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, in their language, 

 signifying water. 



While engaged in the survey of the Utah Valley, we were no 

 little annoyed by numbers of the latter tribe, who hung around the 

 camp, crowding around the cook-fires, more like hungry dogs 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 herdsmen 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. 



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 ofi" the stock of the inhabitants in the southern set- 

 tlements, resisting all attempts to recover them, and finally firing 

 upon the people themselves, as they issued from their little stockade 

 to attend to their ordinary occupations. Under these circum- 

 stances, the settlers in the Utah Valley applied to the supreme 

 government, at Salt Lake City, for 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 over- 

 tm'es had been resorted to in vain, he very properly determined to 



