a degenerate, worn-out tribe. The Nez Perces are the most numerous and
tractable of the three tribes just mentioned. Mr. Pambrune informed
Captain Bonneville that he had been at some pains to introduce the
Christian religion, in the Roman Catholic form, among them, where it had
evidently taken root; but had become altered and modified, to suit their
peculiar habits of thought, and motives of action; retaining, however,
the principal points of faith, and its entire precepts of morality. The
same gentleman had given them a code of laws, to which they conformed
with scrupulous fidelity. Polygamy, which once prevailed among them to
a great extent, was now rarely indulged. All the crimes denounced by the
Christian faith met with severe punishment among them. Even theft,
so venial a crime among the Indians, had recently been punished with
hanging, by sentence of a chief.

There certainly appears to be a peculiar susceptibility of moral and
religious improvement among this tribe, and they would seem to be one
of the very, very few that have benefited in morals and manners by an
intercourse with white men. The parties which visited them about twenty
years previously, in the expedition fitted out by Mr. Astor, complained
of their selfishness, their extortion, and their thievish propensities.
The very reverse of those qualities prevailed among them during the
prolonged sojourns of Captain Bonneville.

The Lower Nez Perces range upon the Way-lee-way, Immahah, Yenghies, and
other of the streams west of the mountains. They hunt the beaver,
elk, deer, white bear, and mountain sheep. Besides the flesh of these
animals, they use a number of roots for food; some of which would be
well worth transplanting and cultivating in the Atlantic States. Among
these is the camash, a sweet root, about the form and size of an onion,
and said to be really delicious. The cowish, also, or biscuit root,
about the size of a walnut, which they reduce to a very palatable flour;
together with the jackap, aisish, quako, and others; which they cook by
steaming them in the ground.

In August and September, these Indians keep along the rivers, where they
catch and dry great quantities of salmon; which, while they last, are
their principal food. In the winter, they congregate in villages formed
of comfortable huts, or lodges, covered with mats. They are generally
clad in deer skins, or woollens, and extremely well armed. Above all,
they are celebrated for owni